U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer Blames SEC for FTX Collapse

U.S. Congressman and Minnesota representative Tom Emmer has blamed both former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler for the collapse of FTX and the resulting consequences.

– This is not just a failure of FTX. It is a failure of centralized finance and a failure of Sam Bankman-Fried – Emmer said on Tuesday during a Fox Business show.

The U.S. Congressman and newly appointed Republican majority representative also condemned the collapse of FTX as a failure of business ethics, government oversight, and regulatory processes, pointing to a meeting between Bankman-Fried and Gensler that took place on March 23.

– They collaborated with Sam Bankman-Fried and others to provide them with special treatment from the SEC that others do not receive – Emmer accused.

The Congressman reserved much of his anger for the SEC Chairman, stating that investigating these companies is what Gensler should be doing, and questioned where he was in the case of Voyager and Celsius, and more recently FTX. The Congressman then asked why the SEC Chairman is ‘on the heels of good actors’ in the community and working on, as he said, a ‘behind-the-scenes deal’ with people doing bad things.

– Sam Bankman-Fried pushed special treatment laws through Congress. And when it was finally revealed what was going on and the industry started raising red flags, that’s when this thing fell apart – Emmer said.

On November 9, 2022, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stated that the company would not acquire FTX after discussions. FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 11, 2022.

– We need to resolve this, we need to understand why Gary Gensler and the SEC did not do their job. We need to understand how it was allowed for user assets to be jeopardized – Emmer said.

One of the many entities affected by the FTX bankruptcy, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan had over $95 million invested in FTX.

The investment represents 0.05 percent of total net assets and will have a ‘limited’ impact on the plan, the organization stated.

Emmer reiterated his belief that the problem is not with cryptocurrencies or decentralized finance.

– This is about centralized finance, which needs to be placed under a regulatory umbrella, and Gary Gensler has done nothing to achieve that. Decentralized finance is not what this is about. It is not about the crypto industry, but about Sam Bankman-Fried and the regulators – he concluded.