FTX Management Asks Politicians to Return Donations
- FTX management has sent a message to all the politicians to return the donations from the company’s former executives.
- The new management has set a deadline of the end of the month, according to a Feb. 5 statement.
- SBF was the second-largest “CEO contributor” to President Joe Biden’s campaign and donated close to $5.2 million.
- The exchange has recovered around “$5 billion in cash and liquid cryptocurrencies” by January 11.
The collapse of former multi-billion dollar crypto exchange FTX has taken an interesting turn after new management took over the firm’s daily operations. Interestingly, the management is seeking to recover all the funds that the exchange can get its hands on in order to pay off its creditors and also allow its customers to withdraw funds from their accounts.
It is crucial to note that the management has also sent a message to politicians and political groups in an attempt to recover the donations that FTX had made to them under the leadership of founder and ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF in the crypto community. The new management has set a deadline of the end of the month, according to a Feb. 5 statement.
“FTX Debtors are sending confidential messages to political figures, political action funds, and other recipients of contributions or other payments that were made by or at the direction of the FTX Debtors, Samuel Bankman-Fried or other officers or principals of the FTX Debtors (collectively, the ‘FTX Contributors’). These recipients are requested to return such funds to the FTX Debtors by February 28, 2023,” said the statement.
On the other hand, as per FTX attorney Andy Dietderich, the firm had successfully recovered around “$5 billion in cash and liquid cryptocurrencies” by January 11. Moreover, the total liabilities amount to nearly $9 billion for the crypto exchange. Interestingly, the company plans to sell $4.6 billion worth of non-strategic investments, including subsidiaries such as LedgerX, Embed, FTX Japan, and FTX Europe. These firms are separate from the company and have separate accounts as well.
It is also crucial to note that in 2022, SBF was the second-largest “CEO contributor” to President Joe Biden’s campaign and donated close to $5.2 million. Moreover, during the midterm elections, SBF acknowledged that he was a major donor to both Democratic and Republican candidates.
On December 19, 2022, the new management also announced a new pathway for all the politicians and political groups to repay the funds that were donated to them by the crypto exchange’s executives. Moreover, the donations that are not returned will have to be repaid with interest.
“To the extent such payments are not returned voluntarily, the FTX Debtors reserve the right to commence actions before the Bankruptcy Court to require the return of such payments, with interest accruing from the date any action is commenced.”
According to data shared by Unusual Whales, over 196 members of Congress accepted campaign contributions from FTX’s former executives like Ryan Salame, Sam Bankman-Fried, Nishad Singh, and others. As earlier reported by Bitnation, the holding company of Sam Bankman-Fried, Emergent Fidelity Technologies, has filed for bankruptcy in the same court as FTX to pursue a “form of joint administration” between the two bankruptcies. Moreover, Emergent also holds over 55 million Robinhood shares, which are currently worth almost $600 million.