FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried opened a “bank” (a crypto exchange), accepted deposits of real money, helped himself to customers’ deposits without their knowledge, and then distributed mountains of cash to friends and, more importantly, Democratic coffers. Indeed, Bankman-Fried ranked as the Democratic Party’s second-biggest individual donor in the 2021–2022 election cycle, pumping an estimated $40 million into various Democratic campaigns and activist groups.
ACTION Among the evidence we seek
<><>all docs and communications among employees or agents of the DNC, and FTX donor list
<><>any and all references relating to the Biden Administration’s control, transfer, storage, or other handling of documents subject to FTX donations.
MUST INCLUDE ALL OF BIDENS MEMOS, NOTES, SNAIL MAIL, EMAIL, CALENDAR NOTES, OFFICIAL ORDERS WRT FTX DONATIONS.
All communications records between BIDENS office and RELEVANT PERSONS SUCH AS OBAMA, THE CLINTONS PELOSI, in connection with FTX.
The FOIA request should seek
all calendar entries,
phone messages,
text messages,
emails,
encrypted app chats,
letter correspondence
long-distance toll records
made from relevant dates.
Office of Information Policy (OIP)
U.S. Department of Justice
441 G St, NW, 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20530
E-mail: National.FOIAPortal@usdoj.g
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried opened a “bank” (a crypto exchange), accepted deposits of real money, helped himself to customers’ deposits without their knowledge, and then distributed mountains of cash to friends and, more importantly, Democratic coffers. Indeed, Bankman-Fried ranked as the Democratic Party’s second-biggest individual donor in the 2021–2022 election cycle, pumping an estimated $40 million into various Democratic campaigns and activist groups.
ACTION Among the evidence we seek
<><>all docs and communications among employees or agents of the DNC, and FTX donor list
<><>any and all references relating to the Biden Administration’s control, transfer, storage, or other handling of documents subject to FTX donations.
MUST INCLUDE ALL OF BIDENS MEMOS, NOTES, SNAIL MAIL, EMAIL, CALENDAR NOTES, OFFICIAL ORDERS WRT FTX DONATIONS.
All communications records between BIDENS office and RELEVANT PERSONS SUCH AS OBAMA, THE CLINTONS PELOSI, in connection with FTX.
The FOIA request should seek
all calendar entries,
phone messages,
text messages,
emails,
encrypted app chats,
letter correspondence
long-distance toll records
made from relevant dates.
Office of Information Policy (OIP)
U.S. Department of Justice
441 G St, NW, 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20530
E-mail: National.FOIAPortal@usdoj.g
MARKETWATCH.COM
Published: Nov. 17, 2022
By Nathan Vardi
10 crazy things detailed in FTX’s bankruptcy filing
1. Most of FTX’s digital assets have not been secured
As of Thursday, Ray made clear that while he now controls the various FTX trading and exchange platforms and Bankman-Fried’s crypto hedge fund Alameda Research, he’d “located and secured only a fraction of the digital assets” he hoped to recover. In fact, Ray said only some $740 million of cryptocurrency had been secured in new cold wallets. Ray cited at least $372 million of unauthorized transfers that had taken place on the day FTX and Alameda filed for bankruptcy last week, and the “dilutive ‘minting’ of approximately $300 million in FTT tokens by an unauthorized source” in the days after the filing. FTT tokens were created by FTX to facilitate trading on its exchange and made up a big chunk of Alameda’s assets.
2. Nobody knows who the biggest customer creditors are of FTX.
FTX.com and FTX.US had customers around the world who used its cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms. But Ray said he was unable to create a list of FTX’s top 50 creditors that included customers.
3. Alameda Research loaned $4.1 billion out to entities, including Bankman-Fried and his closest partners.
There have been reports that FTX lent out billions of dollars in customer funds to Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund, Alameda Research. But on Thursday, Ray revealed that Alameda had made $4.1 billion of related-party loans that remained outstanding at the end of September. This included a $1 billion loan Alameda made to Bankman-Fried himself, a $543 million loan made to FTX cofounder Nishad Singh, and $55 million borrowed by FTX co-CEO Ryan Salame.
4. FTX corporate funds were used to buy personal homes
Bankman-Fried lived in a luxury resort in the Bahamas, where FTX was also based. There, bankruptcy filings say, corporate funds of FTX “were used to purchase homes and other personal items for employees and advisors.” Ray said in his filing that there is no documentation for the transactions and loans associated with these real estate purchases, which were recorded in the personal name of employees and advisors.
5. Personalized emojis to approve disbursements
To demonstrate the lack of disbursement and appropriate business controls at FTX, Ray pointed out that FTX employees “submitted payment requests through an on-line ‘chat’ platform where a disparate group of supervisors approved disbursements by responding with personalized emojis.”
6. Alameda Research was one of the world’s biggest hedge funds
According to the bankruptcy filing, Alameda’s balance sheet showed $13.46 billion in total assets as of the end of September. That’s roughly equivalent to the assets managed by famous billionaire hedge fund traders like Bill Ackman, Paul Tudor Jones and Jeffrey Talpins.
7. Audit opinions from the metaverse
Bankman-Fried secured audit opinions for the worldwide FTX buying and selling platform a part of his enterprise from Prager Metis, a agency that Ray had by no means heard of earlier than. Ray stated he went to the agency’s web site to be taught extra about it and found that Prager Metis described itself because the“first-ever CPA firm to officially open its Metaverse headquarters in the metaverse platform Decentraland.”
8. Alameda had a secret exemption on FTX.com
Ray’s filing on Thursday indicated that Bankman-Fried’s Alameda hedge fund might have had a trading edge on the FTX.com trading platform. According to the filing, Alameda had a “secret exemption” from “certain aspects of FTX.com’s auto-liquidation protocol.”
9. Customer liabilities are not reflected in FTX financial statements
Ray expects that the FTX.US exchange and trading platform, which serviced American customers, will have “significant liabilities arising from crypto assets deposited by customers through the FTX US platform.” He believes the FTX exchange that was used by FTX clients outside the U.S. could also have significant client liabilities. But none of these liabilities are reflected in the financial statements that were prepared while Bankman-Fried ran FTX, Ray said.
10. Ray has no confidence in any FTX balance sheet
Time and again in the filing, Ray offers the same disclaimer after detailing FTX-related financial statements. He notes that many of the balance sheets at FTX and Alameda are unaudited, and that because they were produced while Bankman-Fried ran and controlled the company, “I do not have confidence in it.”
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