Bankrupt exchange FTX is demanding that politicians who received donations from its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, and his affiliates to return the funds before the end of the month, as part of the recovery efforts to repay creditors owed an estimated $10 billion.
On February 5, FTX debtors announced that they were sending confidential messages to politicians, political action groups, and any other beneficiaries of the funds to return them before February 28, 2023. According to the announcement, the recipients are required to forward their respective amounts through the channels established by the debtors on December 19, 2022.
The statement read: ‘‘FTX Trading Ltd, and its affiliated debtors, today announced the FTX Debtors are sending confidential messages to political figures, political action funds, and other recipients of contributors or other payments that were made by or at the direction of the FTX Debtors, Samuel Bankman-Fried or other officers or principals of the FTX Debtors. The recipients are requested to return such funds to the FTX Debtors by February 28, 2023.’’
See Related: Sam Bankman-Fried Wants to Transfer FTX Assets amid Claims of Witness Tampering
Those Who Fail to Repay Risk Accruing Interests
The debtors, who estimated the amount in question to be around $93 million, plan to seek the court’s intervention against those who fail to honour the request, including adding interest on the accrued amount from the date any legal action commences. Some of the recipients of the funds had earlier attempted to give an equivalent amount of the donations they received to charity, something the collectors noted would not cancel out the request.
The recovery efforts could go all the way to the White House. In 2020, Sam Bankman-Fried was the second-largest individual donor to President Joe Biden’s campaign, behind Michael Bloomberg, giving $5.2 million. The former CEO further donated to politicians across the divide, perhaps to influence their decision-making concerning industry regulations.
See Related: United States DOJ Seizes Over 55M Robinhood Shares And US$22M In Relation To SBF And FTX
