Ready to subpoena Sam Bankman-Fried if needed, says US House Speaker

House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters told Reuters on Thursday that she is prepared to subpoena FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried if he does not agree to appear before the panel next week, and she is working to to find the best way to do it.

“We have made it clear that we want Sam at our December 13 hearing. If he doesn’t cooperate, then we’re prepared to serve a subpoena,” Waters said in an interview at the US Capitol.

regulators around the world, including in the Bahamas, where FTX is based in the United States and examines the role of FTX’s top executives, including Bankman-Fried, in the company’s stunning collapse, as previously reported by Reuters. That crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy last month after a liquidity crisis caused at least US$1 billion (around Rs. 8,200 billion) in client funds to disappear.

Prosecutors and regulators have not charged Bankman-Fried with any crime.

Waters said she has the authority to issue a subpoena herself but can submit it to a committee vote, adding that she will first work out the process with Rep. Patrick McHenry, the Republican lawmaker who will chair the panel, when his party takes control of the house in January. She said no decision had been made yet. “I really could do it myself. We would probably vote,” she said. “I need to check with Mr. McHenry how we’re going to do it. But we will issue a subpoena.”

“Either he does it or he doesn’t. And then we make our decision,” Waters said. “It’s only appropriate and right and makes sense to say we want you here.”

She declined to say whether Bankman-Fried would have to appear in person or testify via video link.

A spokesman for Bankman-Fried declined to comment. McHenry’s office was not immediately available for comment.

© Thomson Reuters 2022