Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has refused to testify on the collapse of his company in front of the Senate Banking Committee, senators said in a statement Monday.
Bankman-Fried will also not accept the service of a subpoena to testify in front of the Senate, his lawyers told the Senate committee, according to a joint statement by Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and ranking member Pat Toomey (R-PA).
SAM BANKMAN-FRIED COULD FACE YEARS IN PRISON FOR FTX COLLAPSE
“[Bankman-Fried] has declined [to appear] in an unprecedented abdication of accountability,” the statement said. “Given that Bankman-Fried’s counsel has stated they are unwilling to accept service of a subpoena, we will continue to work to have him appear before the Committee. He owes the American people an explanation.”
As the former CEO of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange that crashed in a matter of days last month, Bankman-Fried was requested to appear at a hearing later this week to answer questions about what happened at the company. He was expected to provide an explanation for the alleged misuse of billions of dollars of client funds, which were transferred to Bankman-Fried’s trading firm Alameda Research before FTX’s collapse.
The committee sent a letter to Bankman-Fried last week, requesting his appearance at the hearing. The committee threatened a subpoena should the former CEO not appear.
“There are still significant unanswered questions about how client funds were misappropriated, how clients were blocked from withdrawing their own money, and how you orchestrated a cover up,” the committee said in the letter.
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Bankman-Fried was arrested by authorities in the Bahamas on Monday after the United States filed unspecified criminal charges against the ex-billionaire for the FTX collapse. It is unclear if and when he will be extradited back to the U.S.
Bankman-Fried was scheduled to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday. It is unclear how the arrest will affect his appearance.
