Posted inNews

SEC was ‘asleep at the wheel’ about FTX — US Rep. Sessions

December 18, 2022No Comments


The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was "asleep at the wheel" regarding how FTX Group and its subsidiaries met financial and corporate governance requirements, Representative Pete Sessions said in the Report of Saturday of December 17.

“We need to see what the Securities and Exchange Commission was doing,” the Texas congressman claimed, adding that “the SEC was asleep at the wheel for these billions of dollars that we now discovered about a year later.”

The second filed charges against Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former CEO of FTX, on December 13, alleging that Bankman-Fried violated the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In the lawsuit, the SEC seeks an order judicial order to prohibit Bankman-Fried from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer or sale of any security except for its own account.

Related: Democrats will reportedly return more than $1 million of SBF funds to FTX victims

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said Bankman-Fried "built a house of cards on a foundation of deception while telling investors it was one of the safest buildings in crypto." The charges came a day after his arrest by Bahamian authorities at the request of the United States.

Representative Sessions also noted that a year ago, Bankman-Fried testified at a congressional committee hearing, where he was asked about the need for regulatory oversight of cryptocurrencies. Bankman-Fried responded: "It's just a matter of transparency," according to Sessions.

The congressman also noted that Bankman-Fried had "full access to members of Congress and the Senate of the United States."

session feedback follow those of Senator Tom Emmerwho criticized Gensler for his flawed "cryptographic information gathering efforts," and asked him to appear before Congress to explain "regulatory failures."

Emmer also noted that Gensler has not appeared before the House Financial Services Committee since October 2021, leaving the crypto media to fill the void over the SEC's failures to investigate.