SEC faces congressional ultimatum over FTX documents.
The US House Financial Services Committee Chair, Rep. Patrick McHenry, has hinted at potentially subpoenaing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to obtain documents concerning Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX.
During a hearing on SEC oversight held on September 27th, Rep. McHenry accused the agency and its Chair of being non-transparent in their dealings with Congress, specifically regarding FTX and its former CEO.
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According to McHenry, the SEC has ignored multiple document requests related to the timing of Bankman-Fried's arrest and his scheduled appearance before Congress.
Seven months later, the committee has not received a single non-public document that was not part of a <Freedom of Information Act> production,” said McHenry.
McHenry warned that his patience was running thin and that he did not want to become the first committee chair forced to issue a subpoena to the SEC.
Earlier this year, in February, McHenry's committee asked the SEC to share internal communications between the commission and the Department of Justice concerning the charges against Bankman-Fried.
McHenry said the Chair issued other requests in April and May as it only received publicly available information.
Additionally, when probed by McHenry about the status of Bitcoin (BTC), Chairsler stated that it does "not meet the criteria of the Howey Test to be considered a security," reaffirming a viewpoint he had expressed while a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018.
Rep. McHenry's remarks underscore growing tensions between the legislative and regulatory branches over the lack of transparency in the SEC's dealings with digital assets and specific cases like that of FTX. Whether this disagreement will lead to the unprecedented step of a congressional subpoena against the SEC remains to be seen.
