The management of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has filed a lawsuit against US financier Anthony Scaramucci and his hedge fund company SkyBridge Capital to recover the money invested by the exchange’s former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). This legal action is part of the FTX bankruptcy estate’s major efforts to recover badly spent money from the previous administration and settle existing creditors.
FTX deals with Scaramucci provide no benefit, lawyers claim
According to one recent report By Bloomberg FTX filed 23 lawsuits in Delaware bankruptcy court on Friday, all seeking to recover money targeted at Bankman-Fried’s shady investments. The exchange lawyers claimed that the former FTX boss and American convict embarked on an “influence buying campaign” amid the 2022 crypto market recession, disguised by a series of flashy “investments.”
FTX is now in the process of recovering these funds from all clients of SBF’s extravagant ‘investments’, which reportedly include Singaporean exchange Crypto.com and FWD.US, an immigration and justice organization founded by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg.
The complaint filed also focuses on Bankman-Fried’s relationship with Anthony Scaramucci, a former White House communications director and director of Goldman Sachs, as well as founder of the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital. The plaintiffs allege that FTX’s former CEO devoted significant time and financial resources to Scaramucci, which provided no benefits to the defunct exchange but rather was aimed at consolidating Bankman-Fried’s position in politics and the traditional financial world.
Notably, SBF invested $67 million in Scaramucci’s SkyBridge in 2022 as a “bailout” as the hedge fund firm had witnessed a $7.3 billion decline in its assets under management since 2015. The same year, FTX ultimately bought 30% of SkyBridge for an undisclosed amount, months before the crypto exchange declared bankruptcy. So far, Scaramucci and other defendants have not commented on these recent lawsuits.
FTX is intensifying efforts to recover funds ahead of the scheduled disbursement to creditors
FTX, under the leadership of John J. Ray III, continues to make significant efforts to recover assets as creditor settlements are expected to begin soon. Recently Bitcoinist reported that the bankrupt exchange has negotiated an agreement with Bybit to withdraw $228 million worth of assets from the UAE-based crypto trading platform.
The former crypto trading titan is expected to begin paying creditors $14.4 billion to $16.3 billion in the final months of 2024, with possible extensions through early 2025. Of this amount, only $1.6 to $3.2 billion is likely to re-enter the crypto market, as the majority of creditor claims have been acquired by credit funds or will be inaccessible due to know-your-customer (KYC) restrictions.
Featured image from Vanity Fair, chart from Tradingview