Money held by FTX in the Bahamas has passed under the control of the authorities.
And according to the latter, the loot left behind by Sam Bankman-Fried would amount to several billion dollars.
3.5 billion dollars of cryptos in the vaults
With the fall of the FTX empire, a question quickly arose: where did the money go? Sam Bankman-Fried, billionaire in his thirties, has since the bankruptcy of the exchange explained everywhere that he was ruined. However, at the beginning of November, FTX was still the second largest marketplace in the world, behind the inaccessible Binance.
And as court time speeds up for SBF, news comes to us from the Bahamas, where the company was domiciled. The Caribbean state’s financial regulator has just announced that it seized $3.5 billion in cryptocurrency belonging to FTX just after it filed for bankruptcy.
These assets were transferred soon after the collapse of FTX and Alameda Research into the wallets of the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, and are now out of reach for the former management team.
Funds to compensate customers?
It remains to be seen who will be able to access these funds, as the number of people injured in the case is substantial. This week, former customers of the exchange filed a class action lawsuit against FTX executives (including SBF).
The objective of this legal action is to have the remaining assets of the firm recognized as belonging to the clients. Indeed, FTX has also left a substantial slate to its creditors, to whom it owes at least $3 billion. The plaintiffs thus want to obtain a declaration affirming that the funds held by FTX in the United States, on behalf of US citizens, but also foreign clients, do not belong to the old platform. This would put them in first place when making refunds.
The legal battle is therefore likely to be eventful. But for the moment, ” all transferred assets were and remain under the exclusive control of the commission “, reports the director of the Securities Commission of the Bahamas Christina Rolle.
Sources: Reuters (1), Reuters (2)
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