The Senate Banking Committee has asked for a response by 5pm on Thursday — but in a statement, U.S. politicians confirmed they hadn't heard from FTX's embattled founder.
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Sam Bankman-Fried has missed a deadline to confirm whether he will testify in front of Congress next Wednesday.
The Senate Banking Committee has asked for a response by 5pm on Thursday — but in a statement, U.S. politicians confirmed they hadn't heard from FTX's embattled founder.
That's despite the committee's chairman warning that he was prepared to issue a subpoena that would compel SBF to give evidence.
Confirming that the formal invitation was met by radio silence, Chairman Pat Toomey said in a statement:
"We believe it's important that Bankman-Fried show he is willing to provide transparency and accountability to the American people by providing testimony. We will continue to work on having him appear before Congress."
Democrat Sherrod Brown, another member of the committee, added in a statement:
"FTX's collapse has caused real financial harm to consumers, and effects have spilled over into other parts of the crypto industry. The American people need answers about Sam Bankman-Fried's misconduct at FTX."
SBF has also pushed back at requests to appear in front of the House Financial Services Committee next Tuesday — despite a polite request from Rep. Maxine Waters.
He had attempted to argue that he needed more time to get to the bottom of what had happened at FTX, but this didn't wash with Waters, who pointed out that this hasn't stopped him from making a number of high-profile media interviews.
Bankman-Fried's reluctance may be linked to the fact that his testimony in Congress would be under oath, while there was no risk of perjury while speaking to the press.
At the House hearing on Tuesday, we are expecting to hear from FTX's new CEO, John Ray III, who famously steered Enron through bankruptcy proceedings in the early 2000s.
Meanwhile, the Senate's hearing a day later will feature evidence from Ben McKenzie — The O.C. actor who has become a vocal critic about the cryptocurrency industry.
His inclusion in this panel attracted staunch criticism from Messari founder Ryan Selkis, who tweeted:
"The Senate Banking FTX hearing is a complete goat rodeo and mockery of the system. I offered to go even though it would have been a distraction, but instead the Senate opted for the former child star of The O.C. and a 'never crypto' academic. Another waste of taxpayer $$$."
While he hasn't found time to respond to members of Congress, SBF has been tweeting — in order to tell Three Arrows Capital co-founder Zhu Su to "focus on your own house."
