Key takeaways:
- FTX lawyers have told a bankruptcy judge that $5 billion in liquid assets have been recovered
- There was no update regarding the total amount of funds that FTX owes to customers
- Some users on social media think that SBF is helping recover funds to secure a lighter prison sentence
FTX has recovered $5 billion in liquid assets
On Wednesday, CNBC reported that the total amount of funds that FTX has managed to recover during the bankruptcy process so far has increased to $5 billion. That’s $4 billion more than the initial $1 billion that FTX’s new CEO John J. Ray said the company controlled back in December.
That’s one of the few silver linings in the aftermath of the FTX collapse, which saw the former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried face eight federal charges, including wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering.
According to FTX attorney Adam Landis, the $5 billion total doesn’t include any illiquid assets, such as $425 million in crypto held by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas.
The exact number of creditors FTX owes money to, as well as the total amount owed, is still not entirely clear. In December, Ray estimated that at least $8 billion was owed to more than 100,000 customers.
Some users on social media voiced their suspicions over the suddenly recovered funds. For instance, Cinneamhain Ventures General Partner Adam Cochran pointed out on Twitter that the $5 billion recovered is very curious, as that was the same amount of money SBF wanted to “buy into Twitter” with.
“Embezzled out customer funds to buy into Twitter, and is now helping to ‘magically recover it’ to weasel out of jail,” Cochran said about the recovered funds.
