Madison Cawthorn’s $150K Crypto Bet: Facts You Need to Know
Rep. Madison Cawthorn might just be swimming in hot water. Last Christmas, he left Donald Trump’s glamorous party in Naples, FL unlike any of the other 90 or so guests. While others were content with a photo of themselves with the former President of the United States, Mr. Cawthorn probably earned the night’s biggest prize.
With cryptocurrencies making headlines everywhere you go, it made sense to get a crypto investment aptly called “Let’s Go Brandon” in a Trump-leaning party.
Crypto depends on libertarian values and for the Let’s Go Brandon or LGB project, donations go to veterans’ groups, a fact that obviously fits well into Rep. Cawthorn’s worldview. A hedge fund manager, James Koutolas, who also supports Let’s Go Brandon echoes these thoughts and says he told the congressman of the coin at Trump’s Florida bash.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn invested only a few weeks later, but it was worth the wait. He pumped $150,000 of his own money into something he truly cared about. He even liquidated a few assets to put his money where his mouth was. But, that’s where the heroics appeared to end.
Cross-checks on Cawthorn’s Ethereum network wallet show that Cawthorn’s investment seemed primed for the stars. But, things soon started to go south and there are several indications that the politician lost money on his crypto trades.
The wallet received nearly 200 billion LGB tokens, worth say $160,000 at that price. The $10,000 difference came from locking in the price early, according to Koutoulas. December 21 was the date of the transfer.
Madison Cawthorn’s December 29 Instagram comment predicted the meme coin’s price would “go to the moon” the following day. The coin seemed to follow his wishes on the back of LGB’s sponsorship of NASCAR driver Brandon Brown. Then Cawthorn traded off one-third of his LGB holdings to purchase ether (ETH), a more liquid cryptocurrency. This move alone earned a 94 percent return per dollar. It’s still unknown if he converted his ETH to cash.
Scandal Express
That December rally was the harbinger of more scandals for the freshman congressman. He’s since failed in his bid for re-election as an avalanche of scandals rolled after him in streaming succession.
The House Ethics Committee is now investigating Rep. Madison Cawthorn for the possibility that he improperly promoted a cryptocurrency he’d invested an undisclosed financial interest in.
The panel is also probing if the North Carolina congressman over a possibly improper relationship with a congressional employee working with him.
The probe was authorized by a unanimous vote of the Ethics Committee but only became public knowledge after the 26-year-old’s biting loss at a GOP primary.
The soon-to-be-former congressman was subsequently charged by North Carolina police for carrying a loaded handgun and driving with a revoked license. One video even appeared to show him naked in bed with a fellow male, leading to his claim of being a victim of “blackmail.”
Further Exploring the Cryptocurrency Charge
Republican Senator, Thom Tillis, had in late April requested the ethics probe to look into Cawthorn’s dealings for signs of insider trading connected to cryptocurrency. The request was inspired by the Washington Examiner’s assertion that the congressman may have infringed laws preventing investors from profiting from information that’s not public.
Interesting times lie ahead, though. Cawthorn team has called the inquiry a “formality” insisting he’s innocent and is only a target for partisan adversaries for political profit. His first tweet after the committee’s announcement?
Coming from the Trump camp of endorsement could make things even worse for Rep. Madison Cawthorn. The burden is on him to prove that the tiniest of these allegations haven’t an iota of truth in them. It might be easier for the entire Let’s Go Brandon to recapture its initial magic than for him to emerge spic-and-span after facing the ethics probe.
Barry Pene is a stern blockchain research/copywriter. Barry has been trading cryptos since 2017 and has been invested in issues that would put the blockchain industry on the right pedestal. Barry's research expertise cuts across blockchain as a disruptive technology, DeFis, NFTs, Web3, and reduction of energy consumption levels of cryptocurrency mining.
