by Fox News columnist Andrew McCarthy said disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried could face a “very, very high” federal penalty.
In a letter published before former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested by authorities in the Bahamas on Monday in connection with ongoing charges in the US, bipartisan leaders of the Senate Banking Committee rebuked him for refusing to testify in a courtroom. they made a statement. heard the explosion of the cryptocurrency exchange he founded.
President Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rank Member Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) told Bankman-Fried about the collapse of FTX at 10:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday, December 14, or next week. He said they offered the opportunity to testify at a scheduled hearing. December 20. They were also willing to let it appear from afar, given that he was still in the Bahamas, where FTX is headquartered.
“We have offered Sam Bankman-Fried two different dates to testify before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and we are willing to accept virtual testimony. He refused to waive an unprecedented waiver of accountability,” the senators wrote.
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Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former CEO of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, in an interview with David Rubenstein on an episode of Bloomberg Wealth on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, in New York, USA. (Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
“Nearly every CEO, financial regulator, and administration official for Republicans and Democrats has agreed to testify before both the Senate and House when called—that’s how congressional oversight works,” the bipartisan duo said.
Brown and Toomey said they would continue to work to get Bankman-Fried to appear before the committee, even though their lawyers declined the subpoena to testify: working to get him to appear before the committee. He owes the American people an explanation.”
Prior to his arrest, Bankman-Fried spoke publicly at a Twitter Spaces panel hosted by Unusual Whales on Monday, stating that he did not plan to attend the Senate hearing as it was “duplicate” given his plans to testify before the House Financial Services Committee. Tuesday. He said it was “quite full” but “open and willing to have a conversation if they think it’s important for me to participate.”
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House Financial Services Chairman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said Friday that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has requested that he testify at the panel’s December 13 hearing on the cryptocurrency crash. (Getty Images / Getty Images)
Brown and Toomey have previously indicated that they are prepared to issue a subpoena for Bankman-Fried’s testimony if Bankman-Fried does not respond to the committee’s invitation by the deadline and refuses to attend the hearing. “There are still important unanswered questions about how client funds are misused, how clients are prevented from withdrawing their own money, and how you plan a cover-up,” the senators wrote in their letter asking for his testimony.
The Senate Banking Committee’s hearing on the collapse of FTX is scheduled to continue Wednesday at 10:00 am EST.
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Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and former CEO of FTX, on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, in Hong Kong, China. (Photographer: Getty Images / via Getty Images Lam Yik/Bloomberg)
Kevin O’Leary, investor and “Shark Tank” panelist, who invested approximately $15 million in FTX at the Senate hearing titled “Crypto Crash: Why the FTX Bubble Is Bursting and Hurting Consumers”; In addition to Professor Hilary Allen from the American University College of Law; Jennifer Shulp, Director of Financial Regulation Studies at the Libertarian Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives; and actor Ben McKenzie Shenkkan.
Bankman-Fried was expected to appear remotely before the House Financial Services Committee at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, but his involvement is questionable after his arrest in the Bahamas and his extradition to the United States, possibly to face charges.
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The House committee hearing will begin with testimony from current FTX CEO John J. Ray III, a corporate restructuring expert who deals with the consequences of Enron’s explosion.
Ray stated in FTX’s filings in bankruptcy court that it was clear that control of the crypto firm was concentrated “in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, uninformed and potentially compromised individuals” due to the “complete failure of corporate controls.”
