Continuing its fund recovery policy FTX has now sought to recoup more than $71 million from the philanthropic arm and other life science entities, as the latest court documents filed on July 19 revealed. SBF-led FTX and its sister firm, Alameda, donated several million dollars to these firms for Bankman-Fried’s personal gain, according to the legal team representing the insolvent crypto exchange.
Per the petition, transfers were made to life science firms like Lumen Bioscience Inc. and Platform Life Sciences Inc. under the guise of effective altruism, a theory that advocates giving income from wealthy people to those in need. However, the firm’s lawyers argued, the philanthropic arms’ ultimate goal was not to serve the most needy.
“While purporting to make these investments for altruistic purposes (i.e., pandemic prevention and preparedness), Bankman-Fried in fact pursued these transactions because he believed that doing so would generate goodwill and amass political capital and influence for himself,” the lawyers said in the filing.
The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art reportedly agreed to return $550,000 in donations it received from FTX.
This comes after a week when the firm moved the court to get back over $323 million from the then-Swiss Company DAAG, which rebranded to FTX Europe after it was bought by the former CEO. According to the Delaware court filing dated July 13, the acquisition did not add much to the exchange’s operations beyond gaining access to European regulators through the ownership of a local entity.
FTX Releases Names Of Interested Parties
FTX CEO John Ray III, who’s overseeing the company’s restructuring, officially initiated the process of reaching out to potential bidders in the exchange’s revival.
On June 23, it published the names of parties under the 363 Sale section of the US Bankruptcy Code that allows the sale of a company’s assets. Notable names in the 363 Sales Parties include Nasdaq, Ripple Labs, Galaxy Digital, BlackRock, Tribe Capital, Robinhood, NYDIG, and OKCoin.
Previously, the defunct exchange published its second report, detailing the mishandling of customer deposits by the former management team and the staggering $8.7 billion it owed to the exchange debtors. FTX Debtors plan to conduct the sale process in Q3 or Q4 of this year and select a “stalking horse bidder.”