It is expected that parts of the message exchanges between Mr Bankman-Fried and his inner circle could be raised in the hearings, especially because the name “Wirefraud” was attached to the chat group.
It has been just over one month since FTX filed for US bankruptcy court protection, owing its 50 biggest creditors nearly $US3.1 billion ($4.6 billion).
FTX Australia administrators KordaMentha said last month that there was $42 million in bank accounts linked to the local FTX operations and that “very significant” sums were still outstanding. It is estimated that 1 million customers face loses.
The main FTX business may have also transferred as much as $US10 billion of customer money out of its exchange and into Alameda Research.
The news that the leaders of the company had a chat group called “Wirefraud” heightens concerns about the prospect of wrongdoing by Mr Bankman-Fried and his colleagues.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department are investigating FTX. The Justice Department prosecutes criminal violations such as fraud and the SEC enforces civil investor-protection laws.
Authorities in the Bahamas – where FTX is based – are investigating whether any criminal misconduct occurred related to the company’s collapse, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said.
Last week, Mr Bankman-Fried said he no longer had access to many of his own private communications.
“I still do not have access to much of my data – professional or personal,” he said before committing to appear at the US House committee. “So there is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won’t be as helpful as I’d like.
“But as the committee still thinks it would be useful, I am willing to testify on the 13th.”
It has been reported that Alameda Research’s former chief executive, Ms Ellison, has retained a former top cryptocurrency regulator for the US Securities and Exchange Commission and current chair of the securities and financial services department at law firm WilmerHale to assist her with the FTX fallout.
Ms Ellison was a Stanford University graduate while Mr Bankman-Fried and Zixiao “Gary” Wang were Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates.
Although they took precautions in their exchanges with each other, the content of the Signal chat is expected to become public in legal proceedings.
Mr Bankman-Fried has insisted he didn’t know about potentially fraudulent activity. He told journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin that he “didn’t knowingly commingle funds.“
“I didn’t ever try to commit fraud,” Mr Bankman-Fried said.
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