The FTX affair is getting more and more murky. As crypto-asset exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy, Reuters reports that between $1 billion and $2 billion in client funds disappeared. The media, as well as the wall street journal, discovered that Bankman-Fried, now a former CEO of the platform, transferred $10 billion in client funds from FTX to a sister company to it, Alameda Research. Some of it has since disappeared, according to two people interviewed by Reuters who hold senior positions at FTX.
Obviously, at a time when speculation is rife on this affair which is shaking the world of cryptoassets, the figures vary. One source thus estimated the difference at 1.7 billion dollars, while the other judged it between 1 and 2 billion. Asked via text message by Reuters about the disappearance, Bankman-Fried simply replied: “???” According to the legal teams of FTX, the ex-boss of the company would have implanted a backdoor in the accounting system, allowing him to execute orders in all discretion to modify the financial documents of the company. The 30-year-old entrepreneur denied the facts.
An investigation opened in the Bahamas
“In light of the collapse of FTX globally and the provisional liquidation of FTX Digital Markets Ltd, a team of financial investigators from the Financial Crimes Investigations Directorate are working closely with the Security Commission of the Bahamas to investigate any criminal wrongdoing”Bahamian police said on their Facebook page.
According to some media, Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested with two associates as he tried to flee to Dubai. A few hours earlier, other rumors announcing the ex-CEO on the run to Latin America had been denied.
A hack to top it all off
As if that were not enough, FTX has been the victim of a hack which further weakens the platform. John Ray, the company’s new CEO, confirmed the hack, mentioning that a “unauthorized access to certain assets has occurred”. Also on Twitter, the Chief Security Officer of another platform, Kraken, indicated that his company discovered the identity of the hacker.
In a blog post, the company Elliptic estimates the amount of funds stolen from FTX at $477 million in this attack which occurred on Friday, November 11, 2022.