Top US Lawmaker Says FTX Hearing Will Continue Without Sam Bankman-Fried

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing on the collapse of crypto exchange FTX will go on as planned on Tuesday, even without former CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who has been arrested.

Bankman-Fried was taken into custody by Bahamas police late on Monday. As soon as the island nation got word that the U.S. had charged the former CEO, reportedly for fraud and money laundering, the Bahamas arrested him, expecting a request for extradition.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), chair of the U.S. committee holding the hearing, said she was "surprised" to hear of Bankman-Fried's arrest and "disappointed" that he would not be testifying before the committee.

"Although Mr. Bankman-Fried must be held accountable, the American public deserves to hear directly from Mr. Bankman-Fried about the actions that’ve harmed over one million people, and wiped out the hard-earned life savings of so many," Waters said of the FTX failure.

Bankman-Fried, who has given numerous media interviews since the implosion of his empire despite being under criminal investigation, agreed to participate in the hearing on Dec. 9.

FTX, once a darling of Wall Street, Washington, D.C., and the media , filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11, days after a CoinDesk article revealed that much of its sister firm Alameda Research's balance sheet was made up of FTT tokens, which are issued by FTX. That triggered a bank run on FTX deposits, which eventually led to the exchange's insolvency.

Read more: FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Arrested, Bahamas Says