Maxine Waters Urges SBF To Attend Congressional Hearing Next Week

Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters is urging disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to reconsider not attending next week’s congressional hearing on the collapse of his crypto exchange.

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee, which Waters co-chairs, is holding a hearing investigating the FTX collapse on Wednesday, December 13.

As Bankman-Fried conducted a series of high-profile media interviews where he apologized for the collapse, Waters invited Bankman-Fried to testify before the congressional committee.

Bankman-Fried, however, is declining to attend, saying he needs more time to gain a deeper understanding of what transpired.

“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.”

But Waters shot back, insisting Bankman-Fried honor her invitation to testify.

“Based on your role as CEO and your media interviews over the past few weeks, it’s clear to us that the information you have thus far is sufficient for testimony.

As you know, the collapse of FTX has harmed over one million people. Your testimony would not only be meaningful to Members of Congress, but is also critical to the American people.

It is imperative that you attend our hearing on the 13th, and we are willing to schedule continued hearings if there is more information to be shared later.”

US financial regulators are also reportedly investigating FTX and looking into whether it mishandled its customers’ funds.