John Ray, the current CEO of FTX, testified Tuesday that the financial scandal at the crypto-exchange company is “plain old embezzlement.”
Ray, who took over as company CEO last month after the company filed for bankruptcy, testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday. Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) asked Ray, who also oversaw the restructuring of the infamous energy company Enron, to compare the two companies.
“Enron was, you know, really a different company,” said Ray. “It was a– crimes that were committed there were highly orchestrated financial machinations by highly sophisticated people to keep transactions off balance sheets.”
“This is really old-fashioned embezzlement,” he continued. “This is just taking money from customers and using it for your own purpose, not sophisticated at all. Sophisticated perhaps in the way they were able to sort of hide it from people, frankly right in front of their eyes, but this isn’t… sophisticated whatsoever, this is just plain old embezzlement.”
Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was expected to testify as well Tuesday but was arrested Monday in the Bahamas on a slew of charges for alleged financial and campaign finance crimes, which are listed below:
- Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud on Customers
- Wire Fraud on Customers
- Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud on Lenders
- Wire Fraud on Lenders
- Conspiracy to Commit Commodities Fraud
- Conspiracy to Commit Securities Fraud
- Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering
- Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and Violate Campaign Finance Laws
Although Bankman-Fried was unable to testify Tuesday, numerous outlets published written testimony he planned to submit.
“I would like to start by formally stating, under oath: I fucked up,” began the disgraced FTX founder, according to a copy of the document obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
“I know that it doesn’t mean much to say that I’m sorry,” he continued, adding that if he fails to “make customers whole” he will have failed himself.
On Tuesday, Bankman-Fried was also hit with a complaint from the Secure Exchanges Commission, accusing him of “a year-long fraud,” as Breitbart News reported.