FTX assets worth $3.5bn held by Bahamas securities regulator

The Bahamas securities regulator has said it has seized assets worthy $3.5bn (£2.9bn) from the failed cryptocurrency speech FTX and plans to instrumentality them to creditors and erstwhile customers.

The Securities Commission of the Bahamas said it had transferred each integer assets nether the custody oregon power of FTX Digital Markets, a Bahamas subsidiary of the FTX operation, to its ain integer wallets for “safekeeping”.

The transportation took spot connected 12 November, the time aft the wider FTX business, comprised of dozens of affiliates and the trading limb Alameda Research, filed for bankruptcy protection successful the US.

The committee said successful a statement: “The integer assets transferred connected 12 November 2022 to integer wallets nether the exclusive power [of] the committee are being held by the committee connected a impermanent basis, until specified clip arsenic the Bahamas ultimate tribunal directs the committee to present them to the customers and creditors who ain them.” It added that the assets could besides beryllium released to customers and creditors via the company’s liquidators.

The committee said the assets were valued astatine much than $3.5bn, “based connected marketplace pricing astatine the clip of transfer”, without giving further details astir the types of integer assets it had seized.

FTX, erstwhile 1 of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, collapsed successful November arsenic customers rushed to retreat billions of dollars from the concern amid fears astir the existent state of its equilibrium sheet.

The company’s laminitis and erstwhile main executive, Sam Bankman-Fried, who was based successful the Bahamas, was subsequently charged successful the US with fraud, conspiracy to perpetrate wealth laundering and conspiracy to defraud the US and interruption run concern laws. He was extradited to the US past week and has been freed connected $250m bail.

Bankman-Fried, 30, is expected to participate a plea to those charges astatine a national tribunal successful New York connected 3 January.

Caroline Ellison, the erstwhile main enforcement of FTX’s sister company, the hedge money Alameda, agreed to plead guilty to 7 offences including ligament fraud, securities fraud and wealth laundering.