Victims of the collapse of FTX counted the debts of the exchange
Date: 2023-06-27 Author: Karina Ziganova Categories: BUSINESS
Victims of the bankruptcy of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange published the amount of debts of the trading platform to customers
The collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX owed its customers $8.7 billion as a result of bankruptcy, restructuring management firm Kroll said in a press release. The firm claims that it was able to calculate the debt thanks to forensic accounting, blockchain analytics and the help of third-party experts.
The interim head of FTX, John J. Ray III, said that from the very beginning of FTX's existence, the management of the exchange mixed client and corporate funds.
"The efforts of FTX's management to focus on the exchange's customer focus were a mirage," Ray III added.
It is unclear whether the amount owed by FTX is final. Kroll noted that they intend to present another report on the exchange in August 2023. Its details were not disclosed.
FTX and more than 100 affiliates filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of stealing billions of dollars from customers to cover the losses of his trading firm, Alameda Research.
Meanwhile, foreign media outlets, including Bloomberg, Dow Jones & Company, The New York Times and the Financial Times, are demanding that the court disclose the names of clients of the FTX crypto exchange to the public. The court wants to keep the names secret so that they do not become victims of fraud.
In particular, the court refers to the example of proceedings around the Celsius Network. They revealed the names of the firm's clients, which allowed the attackers to carry out targeted blackmail attacks. Lawyers for media companies argue that FTX is not eligible for a "new and radical exception" in bankruptcy disclosure. As the media found out, the exchange owes money to every IT giant in the United States, including Apple, Google and Amazon.
