Former CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange platform FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried has stated that the firm has more than enough money to repay its U.S customers.
Bankman-fried disclosed that FTX customers are owed between $181 million and $497 million on his best guess, while in a court hearing this month, revealed that millions of customers who lost money from the collapse of his company could get their money back.
He said that a substantial recovery remains possible and FTX U.S should be able to return all of its customers’ money, noting that FTX international has billions of Dollars in assets, and he is using almost all his assets to help customers.
He however pleaded not guilty to fraud charges and is scheduled to face trial in October.
Meanwhile, FTX has not provided an estimate of the amount it owed its U.S. customers and has failed to respond to the EX CEO’s claims of the amount owed.
However, the company’s newly appointed CEO John III while testifying to the U.S house committee, disclosed that U.S. customers are more likely than any other customers to get their money back.
He revealed that the company under Sam Bankman-fried failed to keep records, while he noted that U.S. customers recovering their funds was speculative, but the restructuring team at the company is doing everything possible to get customers’ funds back.
He further provided some additional details about the FTX’s recovery effort by disclosing that the firm has recovered $1.7 billion in cash, $3.5 billion in liquid cryptocurrency, and $300 million in liquid securities.
In his words,
“We are making progress in our efforts to maximize recoveries, and it has taken a herculean investigative effort from our team to uncover this preliminary information.
Investors King understands that FTX processed about $5 billion worth of withdrawals during its last few days of operating and still retained about $8 billion of assets of varying liquidity when it filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in November last year.
Recall that the company which was once valued at $32 billion a year ago filed for bankruptcy on Nov 11 after it ran out of funds. Its collapse has caused a contagion in the crypto industry as the price of crypto assets has plummeted massively, while investors have expressed concerns as they pull out their funds.