FTX Has Recovered ‘Over $5B’ in Assets, Bankruptcy Attorney Says

Crypto exchange FTX has actually recovered more than $5 billion in various assets, not consisting of one more $425 million in crypto held by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, an insolvency lawyer said during a hearing Wednesday.
There’s still an amount missing out on in what is owed to clients and also the quantity is still unclear, the lawyer stated.

“We have located over $5 billion of cash, liquid cryptocurrency and liquid investment securities measured at petition date value. [It] just does not ascribe any value to holdings of dozens of illiquid cryptocurrency tokens, where our holdings are so large relative to the total supply that our positions cannot be sold without substantially affecting the market for the token,”

said Sullivan & Cromwell attorney Adam Landis on FTX’s behalf.

The announcement significantly increases the overall FTX claims it holds after the business’s new leadership said it might only find just over $1 billion on Dec. 20, 2022. The total quantity FTX owes its lenders is still uncertain. In initial bankruptcy filings, the business’s monitoring marked off package indicating a number in between $1 as well as $10 billion. Chief Financial Officer Mary Cilia estimated the business might do so by April 2023 during that December hearing.
Sam Bankman-Fried advised his lieutenant Gary Wang to develop a “backdoor” for Alameda to obtain from FTX clients without their authorization, Landis stated, adding that the previous CEO developed a credit line worth $65 billion from the exchange to the trading arm.

“We know what Alameda did with the money. It bought planes. Houses, threw parties made political donations. It made personal loans to its founders. It sponsored the FTX Arena in Miami, a Formula One team, the League of Legends, Coachella and many other businesses, events and personalities,”

Landis said.

Chief Financial Officer Mary Cilia estimated the business might do so by April 2023 in December. However, Judge John Dorsey of the Delaware Bankruptcy Court established a March 15 target date in Wednesday’s hearing.
Landis additionally spoke with a recently-announced collaboration arrangement with the Securities Payment of the Bahamas, saying it was “a crucial first step to straighten incentives and optimize joint recoveries.”

“It does not matter who collects $1 for customers, as long as the customers get it,” Landis said. “We’ve established a task force with the official committee of creditors and the Bahamas JPL to explore alternatives for the sale or reorganization of the international platform.”