Bipartisan Group of US Senators Calls for Independent Examiner to Investigate FTX

A bipartisan group of four U.S. senators has sent a letter to the judge in the FTX bankruptcy case calling for an independent examiner to be appointed.

The group, composed of both crypto supporters and skeptics, is urging Judge John Dorsey, of the Bankruptcy Court of the District of Delaware, to support a motion to appoint an examiner “to have full authority and resources to conduct a thorough, objective investigation of the activities that led to the collapse of FTX.”

The senators are John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).

The senators argue that Sullivan & Cromwell, which is representing FTX and assisting the new leadership in identifying former issues, is not a disinterested party, pointing out that it has "advised FTX for years leading up to its collapse and one of its partners even served as FTX’s general counsel."

They further point out that "significant questions about the firm’s involvement in the operations of FTX remain unanswered, including the extent to which Sullivan & Cromwell attorneys had questions or suspected fraud or the absence of appropriate legal controls, the actual scope of Sullivan & Cromwell’s representation of FTX and, if not Sullivan & Cromwell, which law firm actually served as 'primary external counsel' to the Debtors."

They conclude by saying that "put bluntly, the firm is simply not in a position to uncover the information needed to ensure confidence in any investigation or findings."

UPDATE (Jan. 10, 21:13 UTC): Added names of senators and arguments regarding Sullivan & Cromwell.