NEW YORK (AP) — The House Financial Services Committee plans to hold a hearing on the collapse of crypto exchange FTX on Tuesday, but its main witness will be missing.
Sam Bankman-Fried was scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee, along with the company’s representative. current CEO, John Ray III. However, Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas late Monday and US authorities said they plan to unseal the charges against him on Tuesday.
FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, when the company ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run. The collapse of the second largest cryptocurrency exchange has drawn worldwide attention, and Bankman-Fried is now facing charges by US authorities and likely Bahamian authorities as well.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. and chair of the financial services committee, said that while she understands that Bankman-Fried must be held accountable, she is “disappointed” that the arrest occurred before he testified.
“While Mr. Bankman-Fried must be held accountable, the American public deserves to hear directly from Mr. Bankman-Fried about the actions that harmed more than a million people and wiped out the hard-earned savings of so many lives. Waters said in a statement Monday night.
Bankman-Fried rose to prominence in Washington, donating millions of dollars to mostly left-wing political causes and Democratic political campaigns, and was hailed as the new face of the crypto industry. He previously testified in favor of certain bills that would regulate the crypto industry in a way that favored FTX.
A handful of members of the Financial Services Committee have previously received political donations from FTX or Bankman-Fried, including Rep. Josh Gottheimer, DN.J. and Rep. Ritchie Torres, DN.Y.
Bankman-Fried has remained, more or less, at his luxury Bahamian resort in Nassau.
This will be Ray’s first public appearance since the FTX collapse. Before FTX, the turnaround expert was best known for having to clean up the mess at Enron about 20 years ago. Ray has said in court documents that FTX’s financial condition was worse than Enron’s and that he did not trust FTX’s accounting prior to taking over the company.
“The collapse of FTX Group appears to be due to the absolute concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals who have implemented virtually none of the systems or controls that are necessary for a company entrusted with the rights of other people. money or assets,” Ray said in his prepared remarks for Tuesday’s hearing.