Rudy Giuliani has agreed to settle with Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two Black Georgia election workers who sued him for defamation after a judge rejected his bankruptcy plea.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the FTX crypto exchange, used his influence in the crypto industry to inflate some coins prices through a coordinated strategy with FTX’s sister company, Alameda Research, a New York Times report claimed on Jan. 18. As a way to keep FTX and the companies under its umbrella profitable, Bankman-Fried allegedly approached developers behind projects, insisting that they make their trading debuts on the exchange’s platform. Following that, the report claimed, Alameda Research would buy some of these freshly listed coins to raise their value. Bankman-Fried thenallegedly relied on his popularity to advertise the projects and persuade the crypto community to invest in these “Samcoins.” As a result, Alameda appeared to be in a stronger position than it actually ...
The debtors behind FTX have identified $5.5 billion in liquid assets but reported a “substantial shortfall of digital assets” at the bankrupt crypto exchange and its U.S. arm. In a Jan. 17 announcement, FTX said it had identified $1.7 billion in cash, $3.5 billion in crypto assets and $0.3 billion in securities following the firm filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November. The debtors added that they had identified roughly $1.6 billion in digital assets associated with FTX.com — including roughly $426 million being held by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas — and $181 million connected to FTX US. “We are making important progress in our efforts to maximize recoveries, and it has taken a Herculean investigative effort from our team to uncover this preliminary information,” said FTX ...
Former FTX US President Brett Harrison has lashed out at Sam Bankman-Fried for manipulating and threatening colleagues who proposed solutions to reorganize FTX US’ management structure. Harrison shared his experiences with Bankman-Fried and FTX US on Dec. 14, explaining how he was hired “casually over text” in Mar. 2021 after working together at New York-based trading firm Jane Street for a few years. But six months into Harrison’s tenure at FTX US, “cracks began to form” between the two, he said. Despite recalling Bankman-Fried to be a “sensitive and intellectually curious person” at first, Harrison said he saw “total insecurity and intransigence” in Bankman-Fried when confronted with conflict, particularly when Harrison suggested FTX US establish separate branches for i...
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) reportedly ordered Gary Wang, co-founder of the crypto exchange, to open a $65 billion “secret backdoor line of credit” for Alameda Research, according to FTX attorney Andrew Dietderich. The attorney disclosed the information during a Delaware bankruptcy court hearing on Jan. 11, the New York Post reported. The alleged line of credit was financed with FTX customers’ funds. As per Dietderich testimony, the “backdoor was a secret way for Alameda to borrow from customers on the exchange without permission.” “Mr. Wang created this backdoor by inserting a single number into millions of lines of code for the exchange, creating a line of credit from FTX to Alameda, to which customers did not consent,” Dietderich told the court, adding...
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) reportedly ordered Gary Wang, co-founder of the crypto exchange, to open a $65 billion “secret backdoor line of credit” for Alameda Research, according to FTX attorney Andrew Dietderich. The attorney disclosed the information during a Delaware bankruptcy court hearing on Jan. 11, the New York Post reported. The alleged line of credit was financed with FTX customers’ funds. As per Dietderich testimony, the “backdoor was a secret way for Alameda to borrow from customers on the exchange without permission.” “Mr. Wang created this backdoor by inserting a single number into millions of lines of code for the exchange, creating a line of credit from FTX to Alameda, to which customers did not consent,” Dietderich told the court, adding...
Miami-Dade County will soon start to remove FTX’s advertising brand from the NBA’s Miami Heat arena, after granting the right from a United States bankruptcy judge in Delaware on Jan. 11, the Associated Press reports. County officials negotiated in 2021 a $135 million deal with the crypto exchange for renaming rights to the Miami Heat’s arena as FTX Arena until 2040. A number of entrances, the roof of the arena, the basketball court, the security polo shirts, as well as many of the cards employees use to access the facility are branded with FTX logos. Following FTX’s bankruptcy filing, officials in Miami-Dade filed on Nov. 22 a motion to terminate the naming rights agreement. As part of that deal, the Heat were to receive $2 million annually beginning in June 2021. ...
Kyle Davies, the co-founder of bankrupt hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), disclosed via a Twitter thread on Jan. 11 the creation of a 3AC creditors group amid complaints from creditors over bankruptcy costs. According to Davies, creditors continue to express frustration with the ongoing costs and handling of assets during the bankruptcy process, suggesting that “intercreditor disputes are delaying the process, and the estate value is not being maximized.” Today we held an ad hoc 3AC creditor meeting. All creditors are open to join and this will be a regular meeting. Here is an overview of the points discussed: 0/n — Kyle Davies (@KyleLDavies) January 11, 2023 The group’s first meeting discussed several topics, including ways to reduce “ongoing legal costs, pursue claims on a contingen...
The FTX Debtors, made up of FTX and its affiliated debtors, and FTX Digital Markets (FTX DM), the Bahamian subsidiary of FTX, announced Jan. 6 that they have reached a cooperation agreement regarding the FTX Debtors’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in Delaware and the provisional liquidation of FTX DM in the Bahamas. Under the agreement, the parties will “share information, secure and return property to their estates, coordinate litigation against third parties and explore strategic alternatives for maximizing stakeholder recoveries.” They have also set parameters for cooperation in each other’s court cases. In addition, the parties agreed the joint provisional liquidators will take the lead in the disposition of real estate in the Bahamas and confirm digital assets “under the control of ...
Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX’s plans to sell its digital currency futures and clearinghouse LedgerX, among other businesses, were challenged by the U.S. Trustee on Jan. 7, according to Reuters. As per the filing, U.S. Trustee Andrew Vara called for an independent investigation before any sale, claiming that valuable information related to the exchange’s bankruptcy could be compromised. The document states: “The sale of potentially valuable causes of action against the Debtors’ directors, officers and employees, or any other person or entity, should not be permitted until there has been a full and independent investigation into all persons and entities that may have been involved in any malfeasance, negligence or other actionable conduct.” In an effort to recov...
FTX’s new management is seeking to recover millions of dollars in donations made by the crypto exchange and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, reports the Wall Street Journal. At the end of September, FTX’s charity arm, Future Fund, had committed more than $160 million to over 110 nonprofit organizations, including biotech startups and university researchers developing Covid-19 vaccines and working on pandemic studies, as well as nonprofit organizations in India, China and Brazil. As per the report, Future Fund committed $3.6 million to AVECRIS, a company working on a genetic vaccine platform, and another $5 million were donated to Atlas Fellowship for scholarships and high-school summer programs in San Francisco. A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried said that charitable donat...