FTX's caretaker leadership has filed a major clawback attempt, seeking to recover over a billion dollars' worth of assets, accusing CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and other top executives of illegal actions.
The complaint alleges that Bankman-Fried's father is financing his criminal defense through an illicit loan from the company.
The lawsuit, filed in bankruptcy court, aims to clawback of hundreds of millions of dollars from Bankman-Fried, co-founder Gary Wang, former Alameda Research head Caroline Ellison, and senior FTX executive Nishad Singh.
Lawyers representing the current FTX corporate group leadership have initiated multiple multimillion-dollar clawback attempts recently, claiming unlawful investments and transactions by Bankman-Fried and other executives.
One intriguing revelation in the complaint involves Bankman-Fried transferring $10 million of FTX US funds to his personal account, then swiftly sending the same amount to his father's FTX US account.
The father, Joseph Bankman-Fried, a law professor at Stanford University, subsequently transferred nearly $7 million to his personal accounts at Morgan Stanley and TD Ameritrade.
Notably, he reportedly incurred losses of over $1 million from the remaining FTX US account funds due to failed cryptocurrency trades.
Lawyers assert that Sam Bankman-Fried is now using the remaining funds given to his father to support his own criminal defense.
In a surprising turn, the complaint also highlights an ambitious plan envisioned by Bankman-Fried's younger brother, Gabriel.
The plan involved purchasing Nauru, a sovereign island microstate, to create a haven for believers in effective altruism, a philosophy promoting wealth accumulation for charitable purposes.
The younger Bankman-Fried even considered using the island for human genetics experiments.
The complaint further reveals that the FTX Foundation received money, including funds intermingled with FTX customer money, and raises concerns about political donations made by Bankman-Fried and other FTX Group executives, amounting to over $100 million.
Most of these donations were allegedly funded from commingled FTX customer money, with some sourced from purported loans from the FTX group.
The lawsuit adds to the complexity of the ongoing multinational bankruptcy process in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
As the legal battle unfolds, questions arise about the management of funds within the FTX organization and the potential ramifications on the blockchain industry.