House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is reportedly not planning to subpoena disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to testify in front of the committee next week about the company’s rapid collapse.
CNBC reported, citing sources, that Waters informed members of her decision Tuesday during a private meeting with Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler.
Waters told members that she wants Bankman-Fried to testify “voluntarily” even though he has not agreed to do so, the report said.
“Your willingness to talk to the public will help the company’s customers, investors, and others,” Waters tweeted to Bankman-Fried earlier this month. “To that end, we would welcome your participation in our hearing on the 13th.”
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Bankman-Fried responded, “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,” he added. “But when it does, I will testify.”
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
FTX, which is headquartered in the Bahamas, was launched in 2019 and had accrued more than one million users by 2022. Users suddenly demanded $6 billion in withdrawals after an article published by CoinDesk revealed last month that the two arms of Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency empire, FTX and Alameda Research, had significant overlap on their balance sheets in the form of the cryptocurrency FTT, which FTX invented. Rival firm Binance, which had been planning to purchase FTX, announced that it would discharge all holdings in the coin and eventually reversed course on the acquisition.
The disheveled 30-year-old went from boasting a $15.6 billion net worth to having “no material wealth” over the span of approximately two days. Federal and state officials are now investigating whether Bankman-Fried broke laws with his actions at the company.
Bankman-Fried was the second largest donor for Democrats this last election cycle, only behind megadonor George Soros, giving at least $38 million to leftist causes, PACs, and candidates, Fox News reported.
Politico reported that Bankman-Fried was a top resource to whom Democrats went when lawmakers began looking at ways to regulate cryptocurrencies because of “his willingness to write multimillion dollar checks to boost Democrats.”
Bankman-Fried said earlier this year that he was preparing to spend between $100 million and $1 billion on the presidential election in 2024 to keep Democrats in the White House.