The FTX and Alameda Research’s restructuring has uncovered some shocking information on the tangled web of financial transactions between FTX entities and its former executives.
The administrators in charge of the restructuring disclosed that FTX-linked entities have paid and loaned a total of $3.2 billion to Sam Bankman-Fried and other high-ranking executives.
The sum was allegedly made up of billions of dollars in loans and payments that flowed mainly from Alameda Research to the executives, according to the financial statements filed in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court by FTX Debtors on March 15.
Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly received the lion’s share of the funds at $2.2 billion. Other notable executives who received funds include former FTX director Nishad Singh, FTX co-founder Gary Wang, and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, among others.
Nishad Singh was reportedly paid $587 million, Gary Wang $246 million, Ryan Salame $87 million, John Samuel Trabucco $25 million, and Caroline Ellison $6 million.
However, the figures exclude over $240 million used for various purchases such as luxury properties in the Bahamas, donations to political and charitable causes and “substantial transfers” to non-FTX subsidiaries.
FTX’s management is currently investigating their rights to pursue potential action against the recipients, along with their subsequent transferees. The administrators stated that ongoing efforts are expected to result in the further identification of assets, liabilities, and transfers.
FTX has been tracking missing funds from the exchange since its collapse and estimates that a total of $8.9 billion is missing. The management team is investigating its rights to pursue potential action against the recipients and their subsequent transferees, and ongoing efforts are “expected to result in the further identification of assets, liabilities, and transfers.”
The first known instance of an executive from FTX or Alameda assisting authorities came as Salame blew the whistle to Bahamian regulators of the potential fraud being perpetrated at FTX, which led them to shutter the exchange just two days later, on Nov. 11.
FTX, now led by CEO John Ray III, is looking at ways to claw back the funds from the former executives, but the “amount and timing of eventual monetary recoveries cannot be predicted at this time.”
Bankman-Fried is currently facing 12 charges related to conspiracy, wire and securities fraud in connection to the alleged mishandling of funds at FTX and its affiliates. He previously pleaded not guilty to eight similar original charges.
On the other hand, Ellison, Wang, and Singh have pleaded guilty to charges similar to those brought against Bankman-Fried and are cooperating with investigations spearheaded by federal prosecutors.