FTX CEO unlikely to testify at US House Committee hearing on Dec 13

SAN FRANCISCO: Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the CEO of now bankrupt crypto exchange FTX facing charges of swindling billions of dollars, said he is not prepared to testify before a US Congress committee hearing on December 13.

Maxine Waters, the financial services committee chair, asked SBF in a tweet that they appreciate that he has been candid in his discussions about what happened at FTX.

“Your willingness to talk to the public will help the company’s customers, investors, and others. To that end, we would welcome your participation in our hearing on (December) 13th,” Waters posted.

SBF replied on Sunday: “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.”

The US House financial services committee is probing the controversial collapse of the crypto exchange that wiped out billions of investors’ money.

As per reports, SBF “secretly transferred $10 billion in FTX client funds to his trading house Alameda Research”.

FTX filed for bankruptcy due to “an extreme amount of coordinated pressure”, according to Bankman-Fried.

A recent court filing in the US concerning FTX revealed a crypto empire that was massively mismanaged and possibly fraudulent - a “complete failure of corporate controls”.

The company never had board meetings, and crypto deposited by customers wasn’t recorded on the balance sheet, according to the filing.

Corporate funds were used to purchase real estate for personal use, and employees and executives put their names on homes purchased with company funds, according to the filing.

FTX filed for bankruptcy last month after its possible merger with leading crypto exchange Binance did not materialise.