The brother of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is a former Legislative Correspondent for Democratic Congressman Sean Casten, who serves on the House Financial Services Committee and its subcommittees involved in “investor protection” and “consumer protection.”
Rep. Casten also participated in a congressional hearing featuring Sam Bankman-Fried, though he failed to ask the CEO of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange platform any questions.
The unearthed affiliation between the brother of the former FTX CEO and Rep. Casten follows Bankman-Fried donating nearly $40 million to Democrats during the 2022 midterm election cycle.
Congressional records reveal that Gabe Bankman-Fried worked in Rep. Casten’s office for a period of two years from January 2019 to February 2021. His LinkedIn profile confirms this employment.
Rep. Casten is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and serves on the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets, the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions, and the Taskforce on Artificial Intelligence.
The Illinois Congressman’s role gives him considerable influence over the House’s approach to cryptocurrency and fintech regulation, with many speculating that the lax regulations for the industry contributed to the fall of FTX.
Rep. Casten participated in a December 8th, 2021 hearing featuring House Financial Services Committee members and Crypto CEOS, among which Sam Bankman-Fried was included.
“Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) said asked if stablecoins can be designed to insulate the contamination of that system such that if someone is buying something that looks like a dollar, they are not actually being tracked by adversaries. Allaire said the benefit of this technology is the greater transparency,” explained a summary of the hearing.
“Casten asked Allaire if he supports the PWG’s report recommendations. Allaire said he supports it but not uniformly because there are a number of challenges with the report – such as what form of federal charter ought to be in place around a large scale stablecoin. Allaire argued it should not necessarily be what the PWG report suggested,” it continued.
