Senators Grill CFTC Boss on Sketchy Links to FTX’s Fallen Star Sam Bankman-Fried

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Grassley demand a full accounting of the interactions between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Chairman, Rostin Behnam, and Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the convicted founder of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Commentators wonder if this will allow the public to discover what might have happened between the regulator and SBF just before the exchange's collapse.

Senators Demand Answers from CFTC's Chair on Ties to Disgraced FTX's Founder

In a letter sent to Behnam on Monday, the senators expressed concern about the nature of the relationship between CFTC's Chair and Bankman-Fried in the months leading up to FTX's implosion in November 2022. The lawmakers are seeking records of all meetings, phone calls, and correspondence between the two parties by 29 April.

"Safeguarding the savings and retirements of Americans requires Congress and market regulators like the CFTC to determine how this multi-billion-dollar crime was allowed to happen," Warren and Grassley wrote in the letter.

Behnam previously testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee that he and his team met with Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives roughly 10 times in the 14 months before the exchange's bankruptcy. He also disclosed exchanging "a number of messages" with the CEO.

Are we about to get hidden info on what happened between the government and #FTX before the collapse? Senators Elizabeth Warren and Charles Grassley wrote a letter to the chairman of the CFTC, Rostin Behnam, regarding his interactions with #SBF before the FTX collapse They… pic.twitter.com/k9hsXW4N7d

The senators' request comes on the heels of Bankman-Fried's sentencing last month to 25 years in prison for orchestrating massive fraud that led to the loss of billions in customer funds. Last week, he appealed his conviction.

Despite the severity of the punishment, Warren and Grassley emphasized that victims "will never be made whole financially.”

“Mr. Bankman-Fried was sentenced last month to 25 years in prison for stealing $8 billion dollars from users of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. This punishment, while appropriate, provided cold comfort for his victims,” the senators added.

Warren Is Active in the Crypto Field

The letter marks the latest in a series of inquiries spearheaded by Senator Warren in the wake of FTX's collapse. In November 2022, she and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse urged the Department of Justice to hold Bankman-Fried and complicit executives personally accountable for wrongdoing.

Warren also sent letters to Silvergate Bank and to Bankman-Fried himself, seeking answers about their roles in the misappropriation of customer funds.

Senator Warren's position on cryptocurrencies has been well-known and consistent for years. In 2021, she described digital assets as "highly opaque and volatile," and in 2023, she made headlines with her proposal for the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Finance Magnates contacted the CFTC press office for comment on the matter, but the Commission did not respond at the time of publication.