Failed crypto exchange FTX has recovered over $5 billion, attorney says
Crypto exchange FTX has recovered more than $5 billion but the extent of customer losses in its collapse is still unknown, an attorney for the bankrupt company founded by Sam Bankman-Fried said on Wednesday.
The company, which was valued a year ago at $32 billion, filed for bankruptcy in November and U.S. prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of orchestrating an ”epic” fraud that may have cost investors, customers and lenders billions of dollars.
”We have located over $5 billion of cash, liquid cryptocurrency and liquid investment securities,” Andy Dietderich, an attorney for FTX, told a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Delaware at the start of Wednesday’s hearing.
Dietderich also said that the company plans to sell non-strategic investments that had a book value of $4.6 billion.
However, Dietderich said the legal team is still working to create accurate internal records and the actual customer shortfall remains unknown. The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission has estimated missing customer at more than $8 billion.
Dietderich said the $5 billion recovered does not include assets seized by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, where Bankman-Fried was located.
FTX’s attorney estimated the seized assets were worth as little as $170 million while Bahamian authorities put the figure as high as $3.5 billion. The seized assets are largely composed of FTX’s proprietary and illiquid FTT token, which is highly volatile in price, Dietderich said.
Selling Affiliates
FTX’s legal team was in court on Wednesday to seek approval for procedures to sell affiliates LedgerX, Embed, FTX Japan and FTX Europe. FTX also wants approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey in Delaware to keep customer names secret for at least six months.
FTX’s founder,
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