The answer to whether embattled FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fred will be brought before two congressional committees next week on Twitter.
in Post early morning on twitter On Friday, Bankman-Fried said he would appear on Tuesday before the House Financial Services Committee after days of equivocation on the matter. The hearing will focus on The sudden collapse last month of FTXthe cryptocurrency exchange founded by Mr. Bankman-Fred, amid allegations of misappropriation of billions in client funds.
Mr Bankman-Fried, 30, said in a Twitter post: “There is a limit to what I will say, and I will not be as helpful as I want to be.”
Since then FTX and its associated companies It filed for bankruptcy last monthMr. Bankman Fried was holed up in his apartment complex in the Bahamas, where FTX was headquartered. He has given numerous media interviews both in person in the Bahamas and via Zoom to talk about the collapse of the once popular cryptocurrency trading platform.
It is not clear if he will appear in person before the House committee.
Mr. Bankman-Fried did not address a separate request from the Senate Banking, Housing and Urbanization Committee to appear before senators the following day.
In a letter sent Wednesday, a Senate committee gave Mr. Bankman-Fried until five o’clock Thursday evening to respond to a request to testify next Wednesday. Committee leaders issued a statement Thursday evening saying Mr Bankman’s lawyer, Fred, had not met the deadline.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and the committee chair, said in the letter to Bankman-Fried that if a cryptocurrency trader is unwilling to speak to the committee, he is willing to issue a subpoena to compel him to testify.
A spokesman for Mr Bankman-Fried and his lawyer, Mark Cohen, declined to comment outside of the post on Twitter. Senate committee representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Over the past two weeks, Mr. Bankman-Fried has been on a media tour, giving interviews to several news outlets and posting messages on Twitter. He has said over and over again that he never intended to defraud anyone – including FTX’s estimated 1 million customers.
Bankman-Fred said he was not directly involved in trading decisions at Alameda Research, a hedge fund he co-founded and largely owns. Just before FTX filed for bankruptcy, it was revealed that billions in the exchange’s client funds had apparently been funneled to Alameda.
With federal prosecutors and securities regulators investigating the collapse of FTX, the stakes are much higher for Mr. Bankman-Fried testifying before a congressional committee than speaking to the media. Statements made to a reporter do not carry the same legal weight as testimony given before Congress.
Mr. Bankman Fred was active in politics, where he was She donated about $40 million For federal campaigns and committees that have primarily supported Democrats, according to FEC records.
