U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Patrick Toomey (R-Pa.) have asked Sam Bankman-Fried to testify at a hearing about cryptocurrency exchange FTX’s collapse on Dec. 14, Bloomberg News reported. Brown, who is the chair of the Senate Banking Committee, said that he and Toomey are prepared to issue a subpoena if the disgraced crypto founder doesn’t choose to appear voluntarily. Brown wrote in a letter that Bankman-Fried “must answer” for the failures of FTX Trading Ltd. and of Alameda Research, two of the entities in the sprawling and now-bankrupt FTX universe. “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,” he wrote. Bankman-Fried had previously suggested that he would be willing to appear in front of a different committee — House Financial Services — after he’d finished “learning and reviewing.” In response, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, told Bankman-Fried that it was “imperative” that he attend that hearing, scheduled for Dec. 13. “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,” Waters’ verified account posted on Twitter. By Wednesday night, Rep. Waters’ rhetoric had hardened further. “A subpoena is definitely on the table. Stay tuned,” Waters’ account said in a tweet posted jointly with the verified account for the House Financial Services Committee. Waters’ tweet also directly referenced a report from CNBC that said she had informed a group of Democrats that she didn’t plan to issue a subpoena to Bankman-Fried. “Lies are circulating,” Waters said, referring to the report.
