SBF Invitation Tone Draws Criticism for Maxine Waters

The crypto community is criticizing the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services leadership for the tone of its invitation to Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).

The Committee Chairwoman, Maxine Waters, on December 2, tweeted the invitation to the founder of the bankrupt exchange. Waters commended SBF’s candidness in discussing what happened at the firm, saying his “willingness to talk to the public will help the company’s customers, investors, and others.”

.@SBF_FTX, we appreciate that you’ve been candid in your discussions about what happened at #FTX. Your willingness to talk to the public will help the company’s customers, investors, and others. To that end, we would welcome your participation in our hearing on the 13th.

— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) December 2, 2022

The House Committee scheduled an investigative hearing for the failed exchange on December 13. The Committee into FTX’s demise and its “broader consequences for the digital asset ecosystem.” It invited all related entities like Binance that played a role in the eventual collapse of the exchange.

Meanwhile, the crypto community has not taken Waters’ invitation kindly, as many have criticized the lawmaker for her choice of words.

Maxine, what are you doing? you sound obsequious, and i don’t believe you understand how bad this looks (especially given your previous friendly relations with SBF)

subpoena @SBF_FTX and demand that he appear before Congress to explain what happenedhttps://t.co/jU6e1jIaXj

— DCinvestor.eth ⌐◨-◨ (@iamDCinvestor) December 2, 2022

Crypto project LBRY, which recently lost a case to the US SEC, asked what it must do to get this friendly treatment from the government.

Hey Maxine Waters, we’d like to be treated nicely by the government the way criminals like SBF are.

Can you let us know how much to write a check for and where to send it?

Feel free to DM if you want to keep this private.

— LBRY 🚀 (@LBRYcom) December 2, 2022

Some also speculated that Waters tweeted this way because SBF had donated to her campaign, while some shared videos of her blowing the FTX founder a kiss.

CAUGHT: Maxine Waters appears to blow a kiss at FTX’s chief fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried at a Congressional hearing while the cameras were still rolling

She’s the one who’s supposed to grill SBF next month?

pic.twitter.com/qxWXuNsyuK

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 18, 2022

Why is the Crypto Community Concerned?

Reports revealed that SBF and his co-founders donated over $300,000 to nine House Financial Services Committee members. Chairwoman Waters also reportedly dodged questions about whether she was concerned about these political donations. 

While SBF did not make any direct donations to the campaigns of the Chairwoman, he made substantial donations to her political party Democrats. He and his father also posed for a photo with the lawmaker at the Democrat retreat in Philadelphia in March. 

Republican Lawmaker asks SBF to Testify Before Financial Committee

Ranking Republican lawmaker Patrick Henry was more direct as he asked SBF to appear before the House Committee and testify. Henry said:

“As you said, you have a duty to “try to do what’s right” and to “help customers out here.” If this is a true statement, testify before the House Financial Services.”

Meanwhile, the House Financial Service Committee is not the only federal institution interested in the FTX collapse. The members of the Senate Agriculture Committee had a hearing on the issue on December 1, where they questioned the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Rostin Behnam.

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