Skip to content
Sam Bankman-Fried- Case Archive
personpersonEliora Michaela KatzEliora Michaela KatzFormer FTX US director of government relations and policy in Washington, D.C.← All People
Witness· FTX US

Eliora Michaela Katz

Former FTX US director of government relations and policy in Washington, D.C.

AppearedFederal Criminal Trial
96 lines·3 proceedings·1 mention

About

Called by the government on Day 11, Katz testified that she joined FTX US in April 2022 as director of government relations and policy. She described speaking with congressional staff about federal oversight of crypto spot markets and attending some of Samuel Bankman-Fried's policy meetings and congressional appearances.

Her direct examination accompanied tweets, videos, transcripts, and congressional submissions describing FTX as protecting investors, maintaining resources for customer withdrawals, and segregating customer assets. Katz said she believed the displayed public statements while employed at FTX US. She also said that much of the material predated her employment, that she did not draft it, and that she lacked familiarity or visibility concerning the underlying liquidity and asset-segregation operations.

On cross-examination, Katz confirmed that she worked at FTX from April through November 2022 and that her boss, Mark Wetjen, had worked at the CFTC. She agreed that she did not work on FTX's written congressional testimony and identified Wetjen and Bankman-Fried as people who did. The questioning therefore narrowed her testimony to her policy-facing role, her observations, and her contemporaneous belief in representations whose operational basis she did not independently know.

Trial Record (3)

FederalFederal Criminal TrialOct 3, 2023 – Nov 2, 2023Called by prosecution

Called by the government on Day 11, Katz described her FTX US policy work and her belief in public customer-protection claims, while acknowledging that she did not draft key materials and lacked visibility into the underlying liquidity and asset-segregation operations.

Day 11

DirectEliora Michaela Katz — DirectEliora Michaela KatzSamuel Raymond7highlights82lines spoken

Summary

Eliora Katz described FTX US's policy advocacy and Bankman-Fried's congressional appearances, then addressed public claims about customer protection while emphasizing that she neither drafted the earlier materials nor knew the underlying operations.

Highlights (7)

testimony highlightKatz described her FTX US government-relations position, her regulatory-advocacy work, and her participation in Bankman-Fried's meetings with policymakers in Washington.Open in transcript →
objectionAfter sustained and overruled defense objections, Katz read from Bankman-Fried's congressional submission describing FTX as a resilient, risk-reducing platform; she emphasized that the material predated her employment and that she did not write it.Open in transcript →
testimony highlightThe government presented Bankman-Fried's February 2022 Senate testimony and submission, including statements about investor protection, liquidity for customer withdrawals, and segregation of customer assets. Katz said she had no reason to think the statements were false while qualifying that she lacked visibility into those operations.Open in transcript →
Quote“No. I was not involved with the inner workings of these issues and had no familiarity with them, so no.”— Eliora Michaela KatzKatz expressly limited the operational foundation for her belief in a statement about resources available for customer redemptions.Open in transcript →
Show all 7 highlights
admissionKatz said she may have helped submit a June 2022 compilation to Congress but could not recall precisely and had not written the earlier blog content.Open in transcript →
Quote“I can't recall exactly. I believe this is the compilation of things that were posted on the FTX blog which were all drafted before I joined the company, so I had nothing to do with writing the content, but I might have helped submit it to Congress.”— Eliora Michaela KatzKatz distinguished possible involvement in submitting materials from authorship of their substantive content and qualified her recollection.Open in transcript →
testimony highlightAfter the final exhibit was received, Katz testified that she believed Bankman-Fried's public statements about how FTX worked while she was employed at FTX US.Open in transcript →
CrossEliora Michaela Katz — CrossEliora Michaela KatzMark S. Cohen4highlights14lines spoken

Summary

Katz confirmed her limited tenure at FTX, described Mark Wetjen's CFTC background, and said she did not work on the written congressional testimony prepared by Wetjen and Mr. Bankman-Fried.

Highlights (4)

testimony highlightKatz testified that she worked at FTX from April through November 2022.Open in transcript →
Quote“From April 2022 through November 2022.”— Eliora Michaela KatzKatz precisely defined her short period of employment at FTX, placing limits on the scope of her firsthand knowledge.Open in transcript →
evidence eventThe defense displayed GX-844 and elicited Katz's agreement that the House Committee on Agriculture had oversight of the CFTC.Open in transcript →
admissionKatz confirmed that she did not work on the written testimony submitted to Congress and agreed that Mark Wetjen and Mr. Bankman-Fried worked on it.Open in transcript →