The filing by John Ray III, the new CEO of the bankrupt FTX, presents a damning overview of FTX's operations under its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, from the lack of security controls to the trading funds used to buy homes and assets of luxury for employees. compromised people, this situation is unprecedented."
Ray was named CEO Nov. 11, after the company nearly went bankrupt and its former management sought legal advice on what to do next. Bankman-Fried was persuaded to relinquish control of the company by his lawyers and his father, Joseph Bankman, a professor at Stanford Law School, according to Thursday's filing.
After his resignation, Bankman-Fried searched the media for interviews and was active on Twitter trying to explain himself and the company's bankruptcy. In an interview with online news outlet Vox, Bankman-Fried admitted that his previous calls for regulating cryptocurrencies were mostly about public relations.
In a brief statement, Ray said Bankman-Fried's statements were "erratic and misleading" and that "Bankman-Fried is not an employee of debtors and does not speak for them."
Ray noted that many of the FTX group companies, particularly those in Antigua and the Bahamas, lacked proper corporate governance and many had never held a board meeting. As far as I understand, there appears to be no documentation for some of these transactions such as loans and that some real estate has been registered in the personal names of these employees and consultants in Bahamian registries,” she said. So far, debtors have found and protected "only a fraction" of the group's digital assets they hope to recover, with around $740 million worth of cryptocurrencies secured in new cold wallets, which is one way to keep cryptocurrency tokens offline, he said. said Ray.
The struggling cryptocurrency exchange, short of billions of dollars, has filed for bankruptcy protection after the exchange suffered the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run.
FTX's failure goes beyond finances. The company also had major sports sponsorships, including Formula 1 racing and an endorsement deal with Major League Baseball. Miami-Dade County decided on Friday to end its relationship with FTX, which means the venue where the Miami Heat will play will no longer be known as FTX Arena. Mercedes planned to remove FTX from its racing cars starting last weekend.