Before allegations of user cash being misappropriated against the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), SBF was one of the most significant figures in the industry. An allegedly leaked email exchange with a prominent regulator demonstrates SBF’s intention to have the exchange federally regulated well before FTX crashed.
Martin Gruenberg, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), got an invitation to see SBF on June 13 of 2022 on May 28, 2022, or about six months before FTX declared bankruptcy and SBF resigned as CEO, according to the Washington Examiner. Former CFTC Commissioner Mark Wetjen, who joined FTX US as the Director of Policy and Regulatory Strategies in November 2021, handled the email mediation.
Martin Gruenberg was extended a meeting invitation by Sam Bankman-Fried. Washington Examiner, a source
Wetjen informed Gruenberg that FTX is in the “rare position of requesting the federal government to regulate us” in the second section of the email.
“We have an application before the CFTC that outlines for the organization how to do so, he continued. It only has to be approved by the CFTC. The other major American exchanges all hold CFTC licenses, so once the CFTC acts, others will follow”.
Martin Gruenberg, the FDIC’s chairman, accepts Sam Bankman-invitation Fried’s to the meeting. Washington Examiner, a source
SBF’s political connections were discovered in the course of several investigations after FTX failed. The FDIC chairman met SBF as part of “regular courtesy visits with CEOs of financial firms and institutions,” an FDIC official confirmed.
Recent court records showed that $3.2 billion in payments and loans from FTX-related corporations were made to SBF and five other former executives of FTX and Alameda Research. According to reports, SBF took home the majority of the funds, totaling $2.2 billion.
