As the bankruptcy and restructuring saga of FTX and its affiliated entities continues to unfold, more and more instances of assets being transferred off of the exchange come to light.
The US DOJ has already begun investigating the $400 million hack that drained assets from FTX’s ownership. Whether the hack was done by bad actors profiting from the chaotic downfall of the exchange or an inside job will ultimately be determined by the court.
Nevertheless, the news shared today during a meeting with the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (UCC) of FTX brings the total tally of assets that vanished due to hacks after the bankruptcy to only $10 million, shy of half a billion.
This figure represents a substantial fraction of the $5.5 billion in liquid assets reportedly identified by the debtors so far.
Unfortunately, the figures above refer to assets held by the FTX Group at large. As far as the US entity of the failed exchange is concerned, only $181 million in liquid assets have allegedly been identified. $88 million have already been placed in cold storage under the control of FTX debtors, with $3 million more in assets pending transfer to cold storage under the control of the debtors.
The remaining $90 million seem to have gone up in flames.
According to John J. Ray III, the new CEO of FTX, brought in to supervise the restructuring process due to his experience with similar bankruptcies such as Enron, the information provided during the call is preliminary and took “Herculean efforts” to uncover.
“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. We ask our stakeholders to understand that this information is still preliminary and subject to change. We will provide additional information as soon as we are able to do so.”
The temporary CEO has already lambasted FTX for a near-unprecedented lack of corporate oversight and due diligence. Given the haphazard nature of the firm’s accounting, Mr. Ray’s assessment of the efforts necessary to pin down these assets is, more likely than not, accurate.
Mr. Ray also assured creditors that he and his team brought in to clean up the mess at FTX will do everything in their power to get as many assets as possible back in the hands of FTX creditors.