Current and Former FTX CEOs to Testify Dec. 13

The current and former CEOs of FTX are to testify before a Congressional committee.

FTX Group founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and current FTX Group CEO John J. Ray III are to be witnesses at a Tuesday (Dec. 13) hearing called “Investigating the Collapse of FTX, Part I,” the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services said in a Dec. 9 media advisory emailed to PYMNTS.

Led by Chairwoman Maxine Waters, the hybrid hearing will have a virtual option so that members and witnesses can participate remotely, and it will be livestreamed.

The hearing is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET on Dec. 13, but the media advisory suggested checking the committee’s calendar.

As PYMNTS reported Friday (Dec. 9), Bankman-Fried tweeted to Waters — with his replies off — that “As the committee still thinks it would be useful, I am willing to testify on the 13th.”

Witnesses invited to appear before Congressional committees traditionally make themselves available voluntarily. Bankman-Fried’s change of heart comes less than a week after he was “not sure” whether he would testify, again sent out via Twitter, saying he needed time to “finish learning and reviewing what happened.”

Presumably, he will appear virtually as his whereabouts remain unknown.

Meanwhile, Ray — who was appointed CEO of FTX in November as part of the firm’s bankruptcy proceedings — and bankruptcy lawyers reportedly met with prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Bloomberg reported Thursday (Dec. 9).

The report said that the meeting details were unavailable but that the prosecutors are investigating allegations that FTX misused customers’ funds and lost billions of dollars.

As PYMNTS reported on Nov. 17, Ray said in a filing with the bankruptcy court that despite his 40 years of corporate restructuring experience, he’s never seen a company as badly run as FTX.