SBF Punts On US House Hearing Invitation Publicly

With people and investors losing billions of dollars in the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange, it has drawn the attention of regulators and lawmakers all around the globe.

The United States is no exception and lawmakers are coming together to conduct hearings in Congress about the downfall of the FTX empire.

On Friday, Maxine Waters, the US Representative, issued an invitation to Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, about participating in one of the hearings scheduled in Washington, D.C. on December 13th.

The invitation

The founder of FTX responded that he was unsure if he was ready for participating in the said hearing. He has been called for testifying before the Financial Services Committee of the US House of Representatives.

Representative Maxine Waters is a ranking member of the said committee and she was the one who had tweeted that SBF’s participation in the hearing on Capitol Hill would be welcome.

The Congresswoman said that they appreciated that the crypto entrepreneur had been candid about the incidents associated with FTX.

She added that his willingness to communicate with the public would prove to be helpful for the investors, customers and other stakeholders of the company.

The invitation was not a subpoena or a demand.

The response

Bankman-Fried did respond to the invitation, but he neither accepted nor rejected it.

On Sunday, he tweeted that he would appear before the committee and give an explanation after he has finished reviewing and learning exactly what happened.

He stated that he did not know if he would know everything by the 13th of December, but he would testify whenever he learns everything.

The nonchalant attitude that was obvious in the response of the FTX founder to the invitation was immediately noted by crypto Twitter.

Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, tweeted and said that their elected representatives had shown great restraint when they communicated with Bankman-Fried.

He said that the fraudsters were insulting the authority of the representatives, which was quite disgraceful.

Criticism

However, it should be noted that Water’s tone has also been criticized by some Twitter accounts, including LBRY.

The video streaming platform based on blockchain has recently lost its battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the sale of its LBC token, which has been declared as an unregistered security.

Others had taken this opportunity for calling out the ex-CEO of FTX and said that he was a fraud. Since the bankruptcy filing of the crypto exchange on November 11th, SBF has been on what others have termed as an apology tour.

A number of high-profile interviews have been given by the champion of effective altruism and former billionaire.

These include George Stephanopoulos of Good Morning America and Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times.

Bankman-Fried disclosed to Sorkin said that legal counsel has advised against giving these interviews. He had also reiterated in the same interview that he had not mixed customer funds intentionally.

He referred to the relationship between his hedge fund Alameda Research and the FTX crypto exchange that has been criticized.

He stated that the two companies were tied together more significantly than he had wanted, but he had not comingled the funds knowingly.

According to the entrepreneur, accounting error is the reason behind the discrepancies.