FTX US discovered around $180 million in assets to be repossessed by its creditors while mapping out assets to be repossessed by its creditors, more than half of which were already gone.
As the insolvency and restructuring tale of FTX and its connected organisations proceeds, more and more instances of assets being transferred away from the exchange emerge.
Inching Closer to Half a Billion
The US Department of Justice has already initiated an investigation into the $400 million cyberattack that drained money from FTX’s control. The court will finally decide whether the hack was carried out by bad actors benefiting from the chaotic breakdown of the exchange or by an inside job.
Nonetheless, the information presented today during a meeting with FTX’s Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (UCC) puts the total number of assets lost due to hacks following the bankruptcy at $10 million, just short of half a billion.
This number comprises a sizable portion of the debtors’ total of $5.5 billion in liquid assets so far.
Half of all identified assets in the United States have been stolen
Unfortunately, the data above refers to the FTX Group as a whole. Only $181 million in liquid assets have purportedly been located for the bankrupt exchange’s US business. $88 million has already been placed in cold storage under the custody of FTX debtors, with an additional $3 million in assets pending transfer to cold storage under the debtors’ control.
The remaining $90 million appears to have been burned.
According to John J. Ray III, the new CEO of FTX, who was brought in to oversee the restructuring process because of his experience with comparable bankruptcies such as Enron, the information shared on the call is preliminary and required “herculean efforts” to discover.
“We are making important progress in our attempts to maximise recoveries, and it has taken a Herculean investigation effort from our team to find this preliminary evidence.” We would like to remind our stakeholders that this information is still preliminary and subject to change. “We will provide additional details as soon as possible.”
The temporary CEO has already slammed FTX for a near-unprecedented lack of corporate control and due diligence. Given the haphazard character of the firm’s accounting, Mr. Ray’s evaluation of the efforts required to locate these assets is more than likely correct.
Mr Ray also informed creditors that he and his team, who were called in to clean up the mess at FTX, would do everything necessary to return as many assets as possible to FTX creditors.
