Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., on Friday said she wanted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to testify before the House Financial Services committee, citing his recent interviews with major news outlets where he denied committing fraud at his crypto exchange.
Waters is chair of the panel, which is holding a hearing on Dec. 13 on the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse.
"We want him here," Waters told POLITICO. "If he's talking and giving interviews, we'd like for him to be just as candid with us."
Bankman-Fried on Wednesday said he had had "a bad month" and that he "didn't do a good job" at upholding his responsibilities to customers, regulators and investors during a conversation with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Dealbook Summit.
FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11 after an apparent misuse of funds that some have called fraud. The collapse was described as the "fastest big corporate failure in American history," in a Thursday court filing by the Department of Justice, which wants an independent examination of the fall of the global crypto enterprise.
"I didn't ever try to commit fraud on anyone," Bankman-Fried said. "I saw it as a thriving business, and I was shocked by what happened this month."
He appeared by video feed from the Bahamas, Sorkin said.
The political megadonor claimed he was down to $100,000 and had one working credit card left.
"We completely failed on risk," Bankman-Fried continued. "That feels pretty embarrassing, in retrospect."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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