Sam Bankman-Fried, the
Founder of beleaguered crypto exchange, FTX, on Friday said he is willing to
testify before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on December 13 (next
week Tuesday).
The Founder, who
resigned as the CEO of the
crypto exchange in mid-November following its
collapse, however, noted “there
is a limit to what I will be able to say” as he does not have access to many of
his professional and personal data.
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
Maxine Walters,
Chairwoman of the US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee,
first tweeted a public invitation to the hearing at Bankman-Fried last Friday,
noting that the former CEO’s “willingness to talk to the public will help the
company’s [FTX] customers, investors, and others.”
.@SBF_FTX, we appreciate that you’ve been candid in your discussions about what happened at #FTX. Your willingness to talk to the public will help the company’s customers, investors, and others. To that end, we would welcome your participation in our hearing on the 13th.
— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) December 2, 2022
Bankman-Fried was
initially reluctant to attend the hearing. On Sunday, he tweeted to explain that he was still learning and reviewing what happened at FTX and would feel
confident to appear before the Committee once he was done doing so.
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
However, in a response
tweet on Monday, Walters, who is also the US representative for California’s
43rd congressional district argued that Bankman-Fried’s position as CEO and
media interview in the past weeks “is sufficient for testimony.”
She further argued, “As
you know, the collapse of FTX has harmed over one million people. Your
testimony…
