Failed crypto giant FTX has recovered over US$5 billion, lawyer says
- Lawyers handling the bankruptcy of FTX recover assets in their efforts to salvage funds from failed firm
- FTX, once the world’s highest profile crypto exchange, collapsed spectacularly in November 2022
Crypto exchange FTX has recovered more than US$5 billion in liquid assets but the extent of customer losses in the collapse of the company founded by Sam Bankman-Fried is still unknown, a lawyer for the company told a US bankruptcy court this week.
The company, which was valued a year ago at US$32 billion, filed for bankruptcy protection in November and US prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of orchestrating an “epic” fraud that may have cost investors, customers and lenders billions of dollars.
“We have located over US$5 billion of cash, liquid cryptocurrency and liquid investment securities,” Andy Dietderich, a lawyer for FTX, told US bankruptcy judge John Dorsey in Delaware at the start of the hearing on Wednesday.
Dietderich also said the company plans to sell nonstrategic investments that had a book value of US$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 US Commodities Futures Trading Commission has estimated missing customer funds at more than US$8 billion.
Dietderich said the US$5 billion recovered does not include assets seized by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, where the company was headquartered and Bankman-Fried lived.