Sam Bankman-Fried ignores summons to U.S. Senate hearings
The founder and former CEO bankrupt FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, did not respond to a request to testify at the U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearings by the December 8 deadline.
According to the letter from Senate Banking Committee chair Sherrod Brown, the matter could involve a congressional subpoena. The hearings, titled ‘Crypto Crash: Why the FTX Bubble Burst and Its Harm to Consumers’, are scheduled for December 14. Bankman-Fried must provide written testimony 24 hours before they begin, the senator noted.
“As the principal owner and former CEO of FTX and Alameda Research, you must answer for the collapse of both entities, at least partly caused by the misappropriation of client funds. Billions of dollars have been lost to more than a million creditors. There are also substantial questions about the illicit appropriation of client funds, the blocking of withdrawals, and your leadership in concealing these activities,” Brown said.
Witnesses for the hearings include Hillary Allen, a professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, and Ben McKenzie Shenkkan, the star of the television series One Tree Hill and a writer. Messari founder Ryan Selkis offered a skeptical assessment of the choice:
“I offered to come, although it would have been a distraction, but instead the Senate chose a former child star and an academic who has never been a crypto expert. Another waste of taxpayers’ money.”
The Senate Banking FTX hearing is a complete goat rodeo and mockery of the system.
I offered to go even though it would have been a distraction, but instead the Senate opted for the former child star of the OC and a “never crypto” academic.
Another waste of taxpayer $$$.
— Ryan Selkis 🥷 (@twobitidiot) December 9, 2022
The U.S. Senate Banking Committee added to its list of witnesses for the December 14 hearings. They include Jennifer Schulp, director of research on financial regulation at the Centre for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute, and investor Kevin O’Leary.
The latter has repeatedly voiced support for Bankman-Fried. In a Yahoo Finance interview, O’Leary said that considers the founder of FTX not guilty until proven otherwise.
Earlier, Bankman-Fried declined to respond to the invitation to testify before the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee.
The former head of FTX broke his silence and told Chair Maxine Waters that he is willing to testify at the December 13 hearing.
1) I still do not have access to much of my data — professional or personal. So there is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won’t be as helpful as I’d like.
But as the committee still thinks it would be useful, I am willing to testify on the 13th. https://t.co/KR34BsNaG1
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) December 9, 2022
Bankman-Fried stressed that he has restricted access to much of his data, but he will try to clarify the situation regarding:
- the solvency of the U.S. subsidiary and customer relations;
- ways to fix the situation for users globally;
- the causes of the company’s collapse;
- his own shortcomings.
Earlier, New York prosecutors were examining the facts of possible manipulation by the FTX founder of the markets for the collapsed TerraUSD and LUNA, according to media reports.
Legal experts say that the U.S. DOJ has all it needs to bring criminal charges. The agency has urged the bankruptcy court overseeing the exchange to investigate potential fraud.
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