Maxine Waters Surprised Over Sam Bankman-Fried's Arrest Ahead Of US House Testimony: 'Timing...Denies Public This Opportunity'

U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA.), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, expressed surprise at the sudden arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas.

What Happened: Rep. Waters issued a statement on Tuesday following the arrest of the FTX FTT/USD founder.  

“I am surprised to hear that Mr. Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas at the direction of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York,” she said, adding that “the public has been waiting eagerly to get these answers under oath before Congress, and the timing of this arrest denies the public this opportunity."

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SBF was slated to appear in front of the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services the following day after being arrested; however, he accepted the invitation to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, after initially declining stating that he won't appear before the Committee until he is “finished learning and reviewing what happened.”

Both hearings are likely to proceed without him.

“We received confirmation this afternoon from Mr. Bankman-Fried and his lawyers that he was still planning to appear before the Committee tomorrow, but then he was arrested,” Waters said.

The FTX founder is facing charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering.

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