Sam Bankman Fried (the disgraced former CEO at FTX) agreed Friday to appear before the House Financial Services Committee, under threat of a Subpoena.
“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,” Bankman-Fried wrote.
“I will try to be helpful during the hearing, and to shed what light I can on: –FTX US’s solvency and American customers –Pathways that could return value to users internationally –What I think led to the crash –My own failings,”He concluded.
“I had thought of myself as a model CEO, who wouldn’t become lazy or disconnected. Which made it that much more destructive when I did. I’m sorry. Hopefully people can learn from the difference between who I was and who I could have been,” Bankman-Fried continued.
3. I considered myself a CEO model, and who wouldn’t be lazy or disengaged.
This made it even worse when I tried to do it.
I’m sorry. We hope people learn from our differences in who we were and could have been.
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) December 9, 2022
After Maxine Waters, Chair of House Financial Services Committee (D-CA), first requested him to testify in front the committee about the fallout from the digital currency exchange FTX, Bankman-Fried accepted.
Since Waters’ initial request, Bankman-Fried has dodged, saying he would need more time to learn and review what happened. Now that he has agreed to testify, he said he may not be very helpful, as he does not have a lot of personal and professional data.
Waters had requested that Bankman-Fried testify after Waters stated that a subpoena was issued for Waters’ disgraced ex CEO. “definitely on the table.”
A Department of Justice investigation has been requested by the Department of Justice into claims of fraud in FTX.
DOJ Trustee Andrew R. Vara wrote in the agency’s filing, “An examiner could – and should – investigate the substantial and serious allegations of fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, misconduct and mismanagement by the Debtors.”
Breitbart News technology reporter Lucas Nolan explained:
The filing described the collapse of FTX as the “fastest big corporate failure in American history.” According to Vara, there is strong reason to believe that Bankman-Fried, the former CEO, and other managers, “mismanaged”Company “or engaged in fraudulent conduct.”John Jay Ray III has taken over as CEO from Bankman Fried. He is well-known for his role in the Enron bankruptcy. Vara stated that the court should approve appointment of an independent inspector to further investigate the case.
After FTX quickly collapsed, lawyers started to wonder if the exchange had engaged in fraudulent activity by misusing customer funds. John Jay Ray III, the new CEO of FTX, stated in court documents that the company had concealed the misuse of corporate funds and even purchased a Bahamas property for employees.
“Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here,” Ray said in the filing.
During Bankman-Fried’s apology tour, he claimed to have made significant mistakes that led to the loss of customers’ funds and the collapse of FTX, but has denied any “improper use”As he stated, customer funds are not subject to tax.Good Morning America.
Sean Moran works as a policy reporter at Breitbart. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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