Bankman-Fried on hook in Texas, set to appear at February hearing

The Texas Securities Board asked the judge to consider imposing a cease and desist order, administrative fines and forced refunds against SBF and FTX USA.

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was summoned to a hearing on February 2 by the Texas securities regulator as part of an investigation into whether he and FTX US broke laws Texas securities.

In a Notice of Hearing signed by Texas State Securities Board (SSB) Enforcement Director Joe Rotunda and served on Bankman Fried on November 29, the regulator alleges that FTX US offered unregistered securities to Texans via its "EARN" accounts. .

The investigation was first announced on October 14, before the dramatic collapse and bankruptcy of FTX's global operations. The regulator announced at the time that it was investigating FTX Trading and FTX US and its executives, including Sam Bankman-Fried, for offering unregistered securities through its yield-bearing products.

On November 18, Rotunda took to Twitter to ask the public to contact him if he was a former FTX client and based in Texas.

If you are an @FTX_Official customer and live in Texas, please contact me. We want to know your story. My Texas State Securities Board email address is jrotunda@ssb.texas.gov.

In the latest notice, the SSB alleged that Sam Bankman-Fried violated a section of securities law while he was then CEO of FTX.

"Respondent [Sam Bankman-Fried] violated Section 4003.001 of the Securities Act by offering and selling securities in Texas that were not registered or licensed for sale in Texas", said Rotunda, adding that he had not registered as a broker either. or agent in Texas.

The regulator said it hopes the hearing will result in a cease and desist order to prevent FTX from “engaging in fraud in connection with the offering or sale of securities in Texas” .