Leaked emails reveal yet another puzzle in the collapsed crypto exchange FTX case.
A leaked email exchange between Sam Bankman-Fried and a top regulator has shown how the infamous ex-CEO of FTX made bold attempts to get the defunct crypto exchange licensed by the United States authorities prior to its collapse.
On May 28th, nearly six months before the collapse of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, ex-CEO SBF invited the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) chairman Martin Gruenberg to a meeting scheduled on June 13th, 2022.
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In response to the request, Gruenberg accepted the invitation and agreed to meet with SBF, as shown in the leaked email.
According to the Washington Examiner, the email contained a draft policy proposal to get, at that time, the world's 3rd largest cryptocurrency exchange licensed.
The regulation proposal was allegedly mediated by former Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner Mark Wetjen, who had joined FTX US as the head of policy and regulatory strategy in November 2021.
In the email, Wetjen highlighted that FTX is in the “unusual position of begging the federal government to regulate <them>.” He also noted that:
We have an application before the CFTC that lays out for the agency how to do so. All the CFTC has to do is approve it. Once the CFTC does, the others will follow — the other major US exchanges also have CFTC licenses.
An FDIC spokesperson confirmed that the FDIC chairman had met SBF as part of “routine courtesy visits with leaders of financial firms and institutions.”
Before the commencement of several criminal lawsuits, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was among the most influential crypto entrepreneurs globally.
However, recent court documents revealed that SBF and five other former FTX and Alameda Research executives are facing misappropriation charges. They had reportedly received $3.2 billion in payments and loans from FTX-linked entities.
