FTX Crypto Fraud Victims Will Get Back Money back — plus interest

Web Desk – Customers impacted by the dramatic crash of cryptocurrency exchange FTX 17 months ago will receive their money back plus interest.

FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has already been found guilty on seven counts related to fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering, with some $8 billion of customers’ funds going missing.

SBF was awarded a 25-year prison sentence in March. The court also ordered him to pay $11 billion in forfeiture. The crypto mogul filed an appeal against the verdict that could last years.

SBF stood down after filing for bankruptcy in late 2022 and U.S. attorney John J. Ray III was brought in as CEO and “chief restructuring officer”. He was charged with overseeing FTX’s reorganization. After taking charge, Ray said in testimony that despite some of the previously done audits at FTX, he didn’t trust a single piece of paper in this organization.

Ray and his team set about tracking the missing funds, with some $8 billion placed in real estate, political donations, and VC investments — including a $500 million investment in AI company Anthropic which the FTX estate managed to sell earlier this year for $884 million.

Initially, it seemed unlikely that investors would recoup their money but fortunately, Ray and his team have made progress on clawing back cash via various investments FTX had made, as well as from executives involved with the company.

According to a press release issued by the FTX estate, 98% of FTX creditors will receive 118% of the value of their FTX-stored assets in cash, while the other creditors will receive 100% — plus “billions in compensation for the time value of their investments”.