Bankman-Fried dodges invitation to testify before U.S. Congress

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried dodged a direct answer to an invitation to testify before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee.

Rep. Waters, and the House Committee on Financial Services:

Once I have finished learning and reviewing what happened, I would feel like it was my duty to appear before the committee and explain.

I’m not sure that will happen by the 13th. But when it does, I will testify. https://t.co/c0P8yKlyQt

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) December 4, 2022

On December 2, committee chair Maxine Waters invited Bankman-Fried to participate in the December 13 hearing.

“We value your candour in discussions about what happened at FTX. Your willingness to speak to the public will help customers of the firm, investors and others,” wrote the congresswoman.

Waters’s invitation is not an official requirement to testify before the committee, Decrypt noted.

In response, the exchange’s founder said he would appear on Capitol Hill once he has finished studying and reviewing what happened.

“I’m not sure that will happen by the 13th. But when it happens, I will testify,” wrote Bankman-Fried.

Crypto-community members expressed discontent first with Waters’s tweet, and then with the former FTX chief’s reaction.

Maxine, what are you doing? you sound obsequious, and i don’t believe you understand how bad this looks (especially given your previous friendly relations with SBF)

subpoena @SBF_FTX and demand that he appear before Congress to explain what happenedhttps://t.co/jU6e1jIaXj

— DCinvestor.eth ⌐◨-◨ (@iamDCinvestor) December 2, 2022

“Maxine, what are you doing? You sound obsequious, and I don’t believe you understand how bad this looks […]. Bankman-Fried’s subpoena and the demand that he appear before Congress with explanations,” wrote one commenter.

After the tweet by the FTX founder, lawyer Jake Chervinsky suggested that he did not want to participate in the December 13 hearings because “lying to Congress under oath is less appealing” than lying to journalists.

Translation: he doesn’t mind lying to Andrew Ross Sorkin or George Stephanopoulos, but lying to Congress under oath is less appealing. https://t.co/DZTyzMwn9s

— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) December 4, 2022

Earlier, Bankman-Fried gave several interviews. He said he did not know what was happening in the companies, denied improper use of client funds and told about the reasons for FTX’s collapse. Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz called his statements to the media “nonsense.”

At the end of November, the Texas State Securities Board sent Bankman-Fried a notice to participate in a hearing on February 2, 2023.

According to the media, U.S. authorities began investigations into the Bitcoin exchange.

Fortune lawyers said that the U.S. Department of Justice has everything it needs to bring criminal charges against the founder and other executives of FTX.

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