A mysterious meeting between Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler will have the crypto community ablaze as it looks into the family of the former FTX CEO. Aggrieved investors are calling for clarification on the allegedly murky ties between the two men, and petitions have already gathered more than 9,000 signatures. Here’s an update on what’s known so far
Gary Gensler and Sam Bankman-Fried met before the fall of FTX
The initiative was shared by the website CryptoLaw, which reported on Twitter that the two petitions – one for US residents, the other for the rest of the world – have sent 9,000 messages to the US Congress. The aim is to urge the US government to investigate the links between Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, and Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), one of the US financial regulators.
🚨UPDATE! 💥
As of this hour, over *9,000* messages have been sent through our Connect to Congress app to demand a Congressional investigation of @GaryGensler‘s actions behind the scenes before @FTX_Official imploded.https://t.co/GzHabgv36z– CryptoLaw (@CryptoLawUS) November 14, 2022
What is Gary Gensler accused of? Gensler reportedly met with Sam Bankman-Fried on March 23, according to a document posted on Twitter yesterday by user FoiaFan. The general subject of the discussion was
“Members of Gary Gensler’s team met with IEX and FTX teams to discuss digital asset retention. “
According to Senator Tom Emmer, who has since deleted his tweet, FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried have been working with the SEC to “obtain a regulatory monopoly” from the US regulator:
Tom Emmer’s original tweet, posted on November 10
This partly corroborates what Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, said about SBF playing for its team, leaving out other players in the industry
Links between the families of SBF, Caroline Ellison, and the SEC
Another point raised by some commentators is that the father of Caroline Ellison, the CEO of Alameda Research and ex-companion of Sam Bankman-Fried, is said to have direct ties to Gary Gensler. As for SBF’s mother, she would have worked for Hillary Clinton. This raises the question of possible links with the Democratic Party as a whole:
Good job @CGasparino @GaryGensler‘s old boss at @MIT is the father of Alameda’s CEO Caroline Ellison. The GC of @FTX_Official used to be lead counsel to Gensler when he was @CFTC Chair. @SBF_FTX‘s mom was Hilary’s lawyer and a Democratic operative. SBF was 2 Democratic donor. https://t.co/SvTIrGW6jd
– John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) November 11, 2022
” Gary Gensler’s former boss at MIT is the father […] of Caroline Ellison. FTX’s general counsel was an advisor to Gensler when he ran the CFTC. SBF’s mother was a lawyer for Hilary [Clinton] and a Democratic operative. SBF is the second largest donor to the Democratic Party. “
If true, Sam Bankman-Fried’s relationship with the SEC/Democratic Party would indeed be murkier than anticipated. However, it should be remembered that we must remain cautious in terms of information at this time, as the crypto community is particularly emotional since the fall of FTX. We will therefore continue to follow this story closely.
