by Bittrex head of litigation and regulatory affairs David Maria discusses the timing of Sam Bankman-Fried’s arrest and the impact the collapse had on FTX investors.
FTX’s new CEO told US lawmakers on Tuesday that his team had received an “extraordinary” response from officials in the Bahamas, where the crashed crypto exchange is located, and urged them to question the Bahamian government’s actions surrounding the company’s bankruptcy.
John Ray III, who took over as head of FTX after disgraced founder Sam Bankman-Fried left last month, told the House Financial Services Committee that he has now received some FTX Digital Markets funds with the help of former FTX employees after Bahamian authorities filed for bankruptcy in the US. . .
John Ray, CEO of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, during the House Financial Services Committee hearing investigating the collapse of FTX on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, in Washington, DC, USA. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Ray said some assets were moved by a hack from the Bahamian FTX division, and other funds were moved by Bahamian authorities. “It wasn’t a request,” he explained. “They just took it.”
Ray said Bahamian officials were assisted in doing so by previous leadership, including FTX co-founder Gary Wang.
“We have repeatedly asked them to clarify what they are doing,” he said of the Bahamian authorities. “We were turned off by them.”
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Ray said Bankman-Fried, who was arrested on Monday on various charges related to the collapse of FTX, appears to be trying to undermine the US bankruptcy process by transferring company assets to accounts under the control of Bahamian authorities.
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former CEO of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, speaks in an interview with David Rubenstein on an episode of Bloomberg Wealth on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, in New York, USA. (via Getty Images / Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg)
Ray said the Bahamian government has its own liquidation processes, according to FTX Digital Markets, but this is not transparent.
“We’ve opened up the possibility to share everything we have with the Bahamian government – similar to what we share with other liquidators around the world – and not just in this case and in other cases, it has to be a very collaborative situation,” Ray said. explained.
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“The rebound we’re getting is kind of extraordinary in the context of bankruptcy,” he continued. “It raises questions. It seems untidy to me. There are a lot of questions on our part, and we’re obviously investigating.”
John Ray, CEO of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, speaks at the House Financial Services Committee hearing investigating the collapse of FTX on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, in Washington, DC, USA. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The Bahamas Securities Commission acknowledged last month that it confiscated the assets of FTX Digital Markets Ltd, saying that urgent interim regulatory action is necessary to protect the interests of the exchange’s customers and creditors.
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The commission did not immediately respond to FOX Business’s request for comment on Mr Ray’s remarks.
Reuters contributed to this report.
