Late on December 4th, Sam Bankman-Fried stated on Twitter he will testify before Congress, but only after he has “finished learning and reviewing what happened”. Less than a day later, Maxine Waters, the Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, fired back saying that SBF’s presence in Washington on December 13th is “imperative”.

The Information SBF Already Has “Is Sufficient for Testimony”

While many have been wondering what is the point of Sam Bankman-Fried’s “apology tour”, Representative Maxine Waters, took to Twitter to invite FTX’s former CEO to testify in Washington. Her call was made in reference to the United States House Financial Services Committee scheduled for December 13th.

.@SBF_FTX, we appreciate that you’ve been candid in your discussions about what happened at #FTX. Your willingness to talk to the public will help the company’s customers, investors, and others. To that end, we would welcome your participation in our hearing on the 13th.

— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) December 2, 2022

Several days later, Bankman-Fried responded stating he feels it is his “duty to appear before the committee and explain” but added that he does not know if that will happen already on the 13th. According to SBF, he is yet to finish learning and reviewing the information surrounding the shocking collapse of FTX.

Waters was, as it would appear, not impressed with Bankman-Fried’s reluctance to commit. Less than a day after SBF’s tweet, she opined that the many media appearances of FTX’s former CEO serve as proof that he has enough information to appear before the Committee on December 13th:

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. As you know, the collapse of FTX has harmed over one million people. Your testimony would not only be meaningful to Members of Congress, but is also critical to the American people. It is imperative that you attend our hearing on the 13th, and we are willing to schedule continued hearings if there is more information to be shared later.

SBF’s Media “Apology Tour” Explained

After stepping down as CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried made numerous media appearances in what has been widely termed the “apology tour”. Most of these have several key similarities. SBF has been apologizing profusely and claiming “command responsibility” while maintaining he knew very little about how his companies—primarily Alameda Research, the one accused of misappropriating billions in users’ assets—operated.

Due to the exceptional complexity of FTX’s bankruptcy—exacerbated by the number of companies involved, and the parallel bankruptcy filed by the Bahaman liquidators—it is still difficult to discern how truthful Bankman-Fried has been. Recently though, Forbes provided information that might indicate SBF knows far more than he is claiming.

Another common statement by FTX’s former CEO is that FTX US was fully solvent prior to the bankruptcy and that it could, even now, replay all its customers if the current management would greenlight the move. While the comments of the American branch of SBF’s company have yet to be proven, a similar claim made about FTX Japan appears to have some merit as it recently announced that withdrawals would be unfrozen.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist

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