After spending the past two weeks participating in media interviews, former FTX Chief Executive Officer Sam Bankman-Fried is being more selective when it comes to appearing before Congress to discuss the collapse of his cryptocurrency empire.
Bankman-Fried said Monday that he is “currently not scheduled” to attend the Senate Banking Committee’s hearing on Dec. 14, though he will testify at a separate hearing by a House panel a day earlier.
The disgraced crypto mogul said he is “open and willing” to having a conversation with the chair of the Senate committee about the hearing if his attendance is deemed important, Bankman-Fried said during a Twitter Space interview. Bankman-Fried missed a deadline last week set by the Senate committee for a response to a request to testify.
Bankman-Fried, who is in the Bahamas, confirmed he will attend the Tuesday hearing by the House Financial Services Committee remotely. He is listed as a witness alongside current FTX CEO John J. Ray III, according to a media advisory from the committee. Starting at 10 a.m. in Washington, the House hearing will be split into two parts, each featuring one of the men.
At the center of civil and criminal investigations into the FTX implosion are questions about whether FTX mishandled customer funds by lending them out to the trading platform’s sister company, Alameda Research, to shore up risky bets.
Bankman-Fried, who hasn’t been charged with any crimes, has denied trying to perpetrate a fraud, though he has owned up to grievous managerial errors at FTX.
—With assistance from Allyson Versprille.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.