Court filings reveal massive $3.2B payoff to SBF’s inner circle

Sam Bankman-Fried “SBF” FTX and Alameda Research’s top brass apparently received $3.2 billion in payments and loans from FTX-linked entities, according to financial statements filed in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court.

Payments and loans to SBF’s inner circle

FTX, which has been tracking missing funds from the exchange, estimates that $8.9 billion is missing, and this latest development is just another chapter in the ongoing saga.

FTX Debtors filed Schedules of Assets and Liabilities and Statements of Financial Affairs that point to billions of dollars in payments and loans that allegedly flowed to Sam Bankman-Fried and high-ranking executives, with the bulk of the funds coming from trading house Alameda Research.

According to the filing, Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of FTX and CEO of Alameda Research, received roughly $2.2 billion, while Nishad Singh, Gary Wang, Ryan Salame, John Samuel Trabucco, and Caroline Ellison received $587 million, $246 million, $87 million, $25 million, and $6 million, respectively.

The filing also noted that these figures exclude more than $240 million spent on luxury property in the Bahamas, political and charitable donations, and substantial transfers to non-Debtor subsidiaries in the Bahamas and other jurisdictions.

FTX Debtors’ investigation and legal action

FTX Debtors are investigating the causes of action against the recipients of these transfers and their subsequent transferees.

Although some of the property purchased with the proceeds of these transfers is already in the control of the FTX Debtors or governmental authorities, the amount and timing of eventual monetary recoveries cannot be predicted at this time.

The Schedules and SOFAs filed describe $3.2 billion in payments and loans to founders, chiefly from Alameda Research. According to the filing, the Schedules and SOFAs are prepared pursuant to Chapter 11 rules and do not conform to generally accepted accounting principles or present a complete picture of the assets and liabilities of the FTX Debtors.

FTX has been taking steps to recover funds, including restructuring and investigating the missing funds. The company appointed John Ray III as CEO to help with these efforts. The company has been cooperating with the authorities in its investigations.

While the missing funds and allegations of payments and loans to FTX’s inner circle are concerning, it remains to be seen how this will impact the cryptocurrency market as a whole.