​Republican Party will examine the SEC’s ties to the FTX exchange

What’s new? Bill Huizenga, a representative of the Republican Party of the United States and chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, criticized the actions of the head of the regulator Gary Gensler. Huizenga also said that he had already requested documents regarding the SEC’s interactions with the bankrupt FTX crypto exchange, its founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, and the Department of Justice.

Since @garygensler won't abide by his own polices to "come in and talk”, the House GOP will hold him accountable. Today, as promised, our oversight of the @SECGov begins with a request for documents surrounding their interactions with @SBF_FTX, @FTX_Official, and @TheJusticeDept pic.twitter.com/cQ9L66I0t5 — Rep. Bill Huizenga (@RepHuizenga) February 10, 2023

What else is known? According to Huizenga, Gensler is not taking his own “come in and talk,” approach in his actions, so the House of Representatives will hold him accountable.

“Our oversight of the SEC begins with a request for documents surrounding their interactions with the FTX exchange and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried,” Huizenga said.

The formal notice asked Gensler to provide documentation and communications between SEC employees as well as with the Department of Justice regarding the criminal case against Bankman-Fried. The deadline date for submission of said materials was February 24.

Last November, Republican Congressman Tom Emmer reported that Gensler had helped Bankman-Fried obtain regulatory privileges, adding that his team would investigate the matter. In December, Emmer said that Gensler knew about FTX’s fraudulent schemes from the beginning and should be held accountable for the platform’s collapse.

After the SEC banned the Kraken exchange from providing staking services to Americans on February 9, Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association, a lobbying group, called on Congress to end the regulator’s “attack” on the crypto industry.

FTX and politics. In 2022, Bankman-Fried held several meetings with White House officials. On September 8, just two months before the exchange collapsed, he met with President Joe Biden’s senior adviser Steve Ricchetti. The FTX founder was also the second-largest donor to the Democratic Party after billionaire George Soros.

In December 2022, White House officials refused to answer questions from reporters about whether Biden would return donations from the former FTX chief. On January 17, CoinDesk reported that at least one in three of the 535 senators and congressional representatives received political donations from FTX. FTX later asked congressmen to return the donations by February 28.