Sam Bankman-Fried Agrees to Testify Before US House Financial Committee

The chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Maxine Waters, said SBF's attendance was "imperative."

AccessTimeIconDec 9, 2022 at 12:20 p.m. UTC
Updated Dec 12, 2022 at 4:18 p.m. UTC
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Sam Bankman-Fried, the former chief executive of failed crypto exchange FTX, has said he'll testify at a Dec. 13 meeting of the House Financial Services Committee.

Bankman-Fried Friday tweeted he was "willing" to testify in response to requests from committee chair Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) who had said his attendance was "imperative."

Bankman-Fried said his contribution would be limited, as he says he still does not have access to the personal and professional data that could underpin testimony.

On Monday, Bankman-Fried said in a Twitter Spaces hosted by Twitter account Unusual Whales that he would be "calling in" to the hearing on Tuesday.

Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO of FTX on Nov. 11, the day the company filed for bankruptcy protection in the aftermath of revelations published in CoinDesk concerning FTX's relationship to sister company Alameda Research.

Waters tweeted on Wednesday night that a subpoena was "definitely on the table" should Bankman-Fried decline to attend. Since resigning, allegations have emerged of poor governance, inadequate risk management and inappropriate use of customer funds at the exchange under Bankman-Fried's leadership.

Prior to his resignation he was a major political donor and influential figure in Washington, D.C., backing a bill to regulate digital commodities.

UPDATE (Dec. 9, 12:30 UTC): Adds additional details in the fifth and sixth paragraph.

UPDATE (Dec. 12, 16:18 UTC): Adds information that Bankman-Fried will be calling in to the hearing.

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Jack Schickler

Jack Schickler was a CoinDesk reporter focused on crypto regulations, based in Brussels, Belgium. He doesn’t own any crypto.


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