Bankman-Fried refused request for Senate testimony
While Sam Bankman-Fried was set to give testimony to a House committee Tuesday, later canceled after his arrest late Monday, he continues to reject requests from the Senate for a hearing of its own.
In a joint statement Monday afternoon, prior to his arrest, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Banking Committee called Bankman-Fried's refusal to appear "an unprecedented abdication of responsibility."
"Virtually every CEO, financial regulator, and administration official for Republicans and Democrats has agreed to testify in front of both the Senate and House when called upon -- that is how congressional oversight works," Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said in a statement. "We have offered Sam Bankman-Fried two different dates for providing testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and are willing to accommodate virtual testimony. He has declined in an unprecedented abdication of accountability."
The committee will continue efforting an appearance from Bankman-Fried because he is "unwilling to accept service of a subpoena."
-ABC News' Allie Pecorin
