FTX: forensic investigators called in to find customers’ money
By Alara Jordan
13:20, 8 December 2022
The new crypto exchange administration team behind the collapsed FTX has enlisted the help of forensic investigators to help recover consumer funds worth millions of dollars.
The advisory firm AlixPartners was picked for the job, and the investigation will be led by Matt Jacques, a former chief accountant for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
It is understood that investigators will conduct asset-tracing to help locate the missing funds, according to a recent report, after assets worth more than $500m were allegedly stolen from FTX and FTX.US customer wallets on 11 November.
FTT to USD
The downfall of FTX
The rocky position of FTX was first highlighted after a report showing its sister firm Alameda Research’s balance sheet raised questions about the close ties between it and FTX and how the crypto exchange handled consumer funds.
FTX and its 101 subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy on 9 November after a liquidity crisis hit the firm, with more than $1bn in value wiped from its platform.
More trouble hit FTX after its bankrupty filing after the exchange was hacked for cryptocurrency worth more than $500m days after its collapse.
The former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, took to Twitter days after FTX's bankrupty was announced and set out his intention to raise rescue funds for the exchange with a goal to “make customers whole” again.
However, Bankman-Fried has come under intense scrutiny since the downfall of FTX, once the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange. Changpeng Zhou, chief executive of Binance, has called Bankman-Fried “one of the greatest fraudsters in history.” Zhou said: “He is also a master manipulator when it comes to media and key opinion leaders.”
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