Sam Bankman-Fried's arrest denies Americans who lost life savings the chance to get answers about FTX's implosion, House committee chair says

• Sam Bankman-Fried, disgraced former CEO of FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday.
• That means he won't be able to testify to a House Financial Services Committee, its chair Maxine Waters said.
• "The American public deserves to hear directly from Mr. Bankman-Fried about the actions that've harmed over one million people," she said.

Sam Bankman-Fried's arrest in the Bahamas could deny millions of Americans a chance to hear from the disgraced FTX founder about what happened in the crypto exchange's collapse, the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee has said.

Bahamian authorities detained the former CEO of FTX on Monday, at the request of the US government. Allegations have built that Bankman-Fried and his associates illegally misused billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to prop up sister trading firm Alameda Research.

California Rep. Maxine Waters said that Bankman-Fried would be unable to testify Tuesday, when he was due to answer the House committee's questions about the collapse of FTX.

"We received confirmation this afternoon from Mr. Bankman-Fried and his lawyers that he was still planning to appear before the Committee tomorrow, but then he was arrested," she wrote in a statement released Monday evening.

"Although Mr. Bankman-Fried must be held accountable, the American public deserves to hear directly from Mr. Bankman-Fried about the actions that've harmed over one million people, and wiped out the hard-earned life savings of so many," Waters added.

"The public has been waiting eagerly to get these answers under oath before Congress, and the timing of this arrest denies the public this opportunity."

FTX filed for bankruptcy in November, after CoinDesk reported that Alameda held a significant amount of its portfolio in its native FTT token, triggering a solvency crisis.

Over 1 million FTX customers may have lost any money they had in the exchange after the group's collapse, according to NPR.

Department of Justice investigators are reportedly pursuing multiple lines of inquiry into FTX, with charges in an indictment filed by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York set to be unsealed Tuesday.

Prosecutors will have the legal tools to extradite Bankman-Fried to the US if they succeed in bringing criminal charges against him, experts told Insider.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also expressed disappointment at the timing of Bankman-Fried's arrest.

"Bankman-Fried was set to testify before the House tomorrow," she said on Twitter Monday. "Tonight he was arrested."

"While I am disappointed we will not have the opportunity to present our line of questioning, we look forward to more information coming to light and justice being served in this case," Ocasio-Cortez added.

Read more: FTX's bankruptcy filings show the situation is much worse than anyone thought. From a million creditors to a stunning lack of oversight, here are the craziest details.