Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO and creator of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has hinted publicly that he may not present at the impending hearing to testify on the collapse of his crypto company.
Bankman-Fried said in a tweet to Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters and the committee that he is still “learning and assessing what transpired” and so may not be ready to attend the hearing.
The statement was sent in response to a tweet by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the committee’s current chair, and the committee’s request that he testify on December 13 and discuss the collapse of FTX.
The US House Financial Services Committee said last month that it would host a hearing to examine the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, as previously reported. The committee said that they anticipated hearing from the connected firms and people, including FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, Alameda Research, Binance, and others.
At the time, Waters said that the collapse of FTX had harmed over one million customers, many of whom were retail traders who had placed their “hard-earned” cash in the platform, only to see it all vanish in seconds.
Crypto community members feel that Bankman-Fried, who reportedly plundered billions of dollars from consumers, is getting away with one of the greatest scams in history with little to no scrutiny due to lawmakers’ lack of seriousness in their investigation into FTX and its management.
Notably, there have been rumours that SBF may have given the Democrats up to $1 billion. According to published statistics, SBF was the second greatest contributor to the Democratic Party in the 2021-2022 election cycle, behind billionaire George Soros, providing $39,884,256 to Democrats.
Will Manidis, co-founder and chief executive officer of ScienceIO, has even referenced SBF’s lack of regulatory scrutiny as a result of the contributions. In a recent tweet, he referred to Bankman-donation Fried’s $40 million and avoidance of prison time for stealing over $10 billion in customer cash as “one of the greatest ROI deals in history.”
Also Read: After the FTX tragedy, Goldman Sachs sees investment prospects in crypto
