Gensler faces backlash from Republicans for lack of Bankman-Fried transparency

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler faces a congressional subpoena threat from House Republicans if the regulator fails to provide information related to the charges brought against Sam Bankman-Fried, the failed crypto mogul.

The Republicans are demanding the staff memo recommending charges for Bankman-Fried, as well as other information related to the charges filed by the agency against him. The congressional probe centers around the timing of Bankman-Fried’s arrest, which occurred the night before he was to testify before the House committee alongside caretaker FTX CEO John Ray III in December.

House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry and Bill Huizenga, the head of that committee’s oversight panel, first sent an inquiry on Feb. 10, asking for more details on the lead-up to Bankman-Fried’s civil charges by the SEC, and argue they’ve been stonewalled since then.

If the SEC does not provide information ahead of Gensler’s scheduled appearance before their committee next week, they say they will consider a “compulsory process” to secure it, likely through a subpoena to the agency.

The Republicans claim that the SEC Chair and his staff have failed to produce the information they’ve requested, which includes all communications in the SEC’s Enforcement Division related to Bankman-Fried from the time of the FTX collapse to his indictment, as well as records related to communications between the agency and the Justice Department related to their coordination on civil and criminal charges filed against Bankman-Fried.

The latest letter from McHenry and Huizenga, sent Thursday, details a briefing by SEC staff and 232 pages of publicly available documents that the Financial Services Committee members say lacked the details they want.

The congressional Republicans continue to push for the memo recommending civil charges against Bankman-Fried, which could also provide more details on the timing of that complaint as well as the criminal charges brought against the FTX and Alameda Research owner.

McHenry and Huizenga have set a new deadline for the SEC to provide its charging recommendation memo by 5 pm ET on Monday, April 17, the evening before SEC Chair Gary Gensler will testify before the House committee that the Republicans sit on. The pair threatened to subpoena the memo if the SEC does not provide that information.