FTX Collapse Gets Capitol Hill Scrutiny This Week

Lawmakers are set to hold hearings this week on the collapse of cryptocurrency platform FTX, and the leaders of the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees want to hear from former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried.

(Bloomberg) — Lawmakers are set to hold hearings this week on the collapse of cryptocurrency platform FTX, and the leaders of the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees want to hear from former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried.

Bankman-Fried is listed as a witness at the Dec.

13 House hearing along with current FTX CEO John J. Ray III. He said last week he was “willing to testify” but would be limited in what he would be able to say because he didn’t have access to much of his data.

Bankman-Fried missed the Senate Banking Committee’s deadline for a response to a request to testify at its separate hearing, and there is still no word as to whether he will appear.

Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown has said he and ranking member Pat Toomey are ready to issue a subpoena if Bankman-Fried choses not to appear at the Dec. 14 hearing.

Crypto bank Silvergate Capital Corp.

was asked by three US senators to release all records related to transfers of funds for the collapsed FTX empire.

Democrat Elizabeth Warren was joined by Republicans Roger Marshall and John Kennedy in sending a letter a letter dated Dec.

5 to Silvergate. “The public is owed a full accounting of the financial activities that may have led to the loss of billions in customer assets, and any role that Silvergate may have played in these losses,” they wrote.

Silvergate said it received the letter and was reviewing it.

CHARTING CRYPTO

WEEKLY ROUNDUP FROM WASHINGTON

A senior Justice Department official warned that prosecutors are closely watching activity in crypto markets with an eye toward taking action over potential illegal conduct.

Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Marshall Miller appeared to be addressing the controversy surrounding crypto exchange FTX during a speech Dec. 6 at the American Bankers Association conference.
The House Ethics Committee directs outgoing Republican Madison Cawthorn to give over $14,000 to charity after he was found to have “improperly” promoted LGB Coin, which he owned but did not disclose, according to a panel’s report
US Senator Elizabeth Warren seeks an accounting from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and other banking watchdogs on the links that major lenders have with the crypto industry
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Sam Bankman-Fried and his hedge fund orchestrated trades in a way that led to the collapse of two cryptocurrencies in May, the New York Times reported, citing two people with knowledge of the matter

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