Sam Bankman-Fried has said he will testify to Congress next week about the collapse of FTX, the exchange that he led until its demise last month.
The founder and former CEO of the company stepped down when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 11 and said he would give evidence to the House financial services committee on Tuesday.
Bankman-Fried said he won't be as helpful as I d like, because he didn't have access to much of my data. In response to tweets from Maxine Waters, the committee chair, who said he had enough information for testimony. Waters said this week she was prepared to subpoena Bankman-Fried if he did not appear before the committee on December 13.
Bankman- Fried, who has stayed in the Bahamas where his company was headquartered, did not say whether he would appear in person or via video link.
He has given a number of media interviews since the collapse of the FTX, as well as tweeting regularly. He has denied trying to commit fraud and said his fortune, once estimated at $26 billion, has dwindled to $100,000.
Last month FTX failed because customers rushed to withdraw their funds because of growing doubts about the financial strength of the company and its affiliated trading arm, Alameda Research.
Bankman-Fried said he didn't knowingly commingle FTX customer funds with Alameda s. Since its collapse, FTX s new management has accused its previous management of a complete failure of corporate controls. In its first bankruptcy filing last month FTX said it expected to have more than 1 million individual creditors.
On Friday, Bankman- Fried tweeted that he had thought of himself as a model CEO who would not become lazy or disconnected, who had created a destructive situation when he did. He tweeted. I m sorry. I hope that people can learn from the difference between who I am and who I could have been. He listed specific issues he would be able to discuss with the committee, including the solvency of FTX's US business, its American customers, and possible solutions for returning assets to international clients. He said he could talk about what he thinks led to the crash and my own failings.