Today, reporting exposed that scandal-ridden OH-07 Rep. Max Miller raked in donations from crypto executives while he worked to lessen restrictions on crypto while in Congress.
Read the full story here.
Key Points:
- U.S. Rep. Max Miller, the Ohio Republican who represents the state’s 7th Congressional District in northeast Ohio, accepted $14,000 in March 2026 from two cryptocurrency executives whose companies have been the subject of federal court and regulatory action — the maximum amount each donor could legally give — as Miller has positioned himself as one of the industry’s most active allies in Congress.
- FEC data shows Yakovenko, of Boulder, Colorado, contributed $7,000 to Max Miller for Congress on March 31, 2026, and that the committee refunded an additional $3,500 contribution from him the same day. Wilson, of Chicago, made two $3,500 contributions on March 10, 2026, for a total of $7,000. Combined, the two executives gave $14,000 — the limit each individual could contribute across the primary and general elections.
- Yakovenko is among the defendants added to a class-action lawsuit over the Pump.fun memecoin platform. In a consolidated amended complaint filed in July 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, attorneys with Wolf Popper and Burwick Law expanded the case to name Solana Labs and its leadership, including Yakovenko, alleging violations of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.
- The amended complaint also asserts securities claims and alleged violations of New York General Business Law sections 349 and 350, which address deceptive business practices and false advertising. The RICO allegations are predicated on claims of illegal gambling, wire fraud, intellectual property theft and unlicensed money transmission.
- The donations arrived as Miller compiled a consistent record favoring lighter regulation of digital assets. In July 2025, he voted for the CLARITY Act, the digital-asset market structure bill (H.R. 3633), which passed the House 294–134. The watchdog group Americans for Financial Reform described the bill in a July 2025 fact sheet as “pitifully weak and loophole-ridden” legislation that “will expose crypto investors — and the financial system and real economy — to growing risk, rampant fraud, and money laundering.”
Published: Jun 4, 2026