Five months after the dramatic collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the Bahamas-based platform has finally found a new legal team to take charge of their bankruptcy process. This new legal team declared in a hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge John D. Dorsey that “The situation has already been stabilized and the dumpster fire is out.” Lead bankruptcy attorney Andy Dietderich from New York law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, who was appointed by the company, reported to the court that nearly 8 billion dollars of assets have been recovered and that customers will receive their entitled funds soon. He added that July the company would submit a preliminary plan for reorganization, and that the customer bar date – the deadline to submit claims against FTX through a customer portal – should be ready by the end of September.
The hearing was also a chance to acknowledge the role of former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and his associates in the mess FTX has been placed in. Dietderich reported he was assisting law enforcement personnel in investigating Bankman-Fried's activity which have led to several other members of his inner circle pleading guilty for offences. Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, FTX Director of Engineering Nishad Singh and co-founder Gary Wang have all confessed their part in the fraud causing the instability of the exchange. During the hearing, Bankman-Fried petitioned to lift the automatic stay motion, that has prevented him from accessing his insurance benefits. Though the motion was dismissed, it was reported that Bankman-Fried is able to pay his lawyers now due to money gifted to his father from Alameda’s finances.
The end of this ordeal is seemingly in sight for FTX as the team is able to confidently confess that the dumpster fire is officially out. It is heartening to know that FTX’s new professional staff is able to fulfil their role in locating and securing customer distributions, tracking down missing assets and even assist the law enforcement. With this new team of professionals plus the filing of the preliminary plan for reorganization due in July and customer bar date at the end of September, FTX is right now running the right numbers in order to have some accountability and order brought back to their platform amidst all the chaos and wrongdoing.
Julia Nelson
- 2023-04-12
FTX Finds Legal Team After Collapse
After the dramatic collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the Bahamas-based platform has finally found a new legal team to take charge of the bankruptcy process. The team is able to confidently confess that the ‘dumpster fire is out’ and the filing of the preliminary plan for reorganization is due in July and a customer bar date will be ready in September.
