The CFTC reportedly had steady communication with the crypto exchange before it failed
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Charles Grassley have scripted a letter to Rostin Behnam, chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), seeking information about Behnam’s interactions with the former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, prior to the crypto exchange’s failure. The senators specifically mention a letter sent by Senator Josh Hawley to Behnam and others and wish to “renew requests” for the information.
Senators Warren and Grassley, who hold opposing political views, pointed out that Behnam had previously stated in a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing in December that “My team and I met with Mr. Bankman-Fried and his team […] over the past 14 months, we met 10 times in the CFTC office at their request.”
The only witness to speak at the hearing, Benham used it as a platform to demand more control, saying, “Without new authority for the CFTC, there will remain gaps in a federal regulatory framework, even if other regulators act within their existing authority.”
In a letter dated April 12, Warren and Grassley said, “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.”
Behnam also highlighted that FTX-owned and CFTC-regulated LedgerX was not connected to the FTX collapse and remained in operation.
The senators request reports of all written correspondence, phone calls, conversations, and meetings between Behnam or Alameda, CFTC staff, FTX, and Bankman-Fried or affiliated executives. They also demand a “timeline of CFTC’s knowledge of the fraud committed, including but not limited to a description of any proposed or ongoing investigations into those parties.”
The letter states that the senators want to “understand the nature of your [Behnam’s] repeated correspondence with Mr. Bankman-Fried” before details of his misdeeds went public.
