According to a fresh report from Reuters, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried appointed attorney Mark Cohen to defend him. Cohen is famous as the attorney representing Ghislaine Maxwell during her sex trafficking case. 

The spokesperson of the embattled CEO, Mark Botnick, said that SBF also has a legal consultant in the form of Professor David Mills from Standford Law School. 

As per sources, SBF has a league of prominent legal consultants within his reach. SBF’s father, Joseph Bankman, is also a professor at Stanford Law school. In the past, he has been represented by Martin Flumenbaum at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison. 

Currently, the general opinion holds that the league of legal bigwigs at the disposal of SBF will provide him with formidable aid.

The investigation into the collapse of FTX has attracted many controversies. In a recent one, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, urged SBF to appear before congress. Her disconcertingly polite request provoked a series of reactions from members of the cryptocurrency sphere, majorly those affected by the FTX fiasco.

They criticized Walter for politely requesting SBF’s presence at the congressional hearing. The critics said the congresswoman should have invoked a part of the constitution that would compel him to attend. The hearing is slated to be held on December 13, 2022.

Likewise, SBF hasn’t helped the situation either. Despite the gentle request from Walter, the former CEO has refused to accept the invitation. Instead, he declined by insisting that he would appear when he fully understood and reviewed what led to the collapse.

Critics haven’t held back from voicing their displeasure over SBF’s attitude so far. For instance, the CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, faulted SBF for blaming the collapse of FTX and its $8 billion deficit on an “accounting error.”

The FTX co-founder said some cryptocurrency exchange users sent money to FTX’s sister firm, Alameda Research, instead of the exchange itself. Due to that, the FTX accounting system mistakenly credited the funds to the crypto exchange and the users.

Coinbase’s CEO faulted the excuses, claiming that they were not genuine. However, since FTX filed for bankruptcy protection early last month, the fate of furious users and their wayward funds remains unclear.