After the conviction of Sam Bankman Fried, founder and former CEO of the insolvent exchange FTX, the FBI is investigating users of the exchange with the help of the company’s consultants.
The billing records of the firm Alvarez and Marsal, which acts as financial advisor to FTX, show that it extracted information about specific accounts and transactions made through the platform and passed it on to various Federal Bureau of Investigation offices in the United States. United States (FBI).
Between July and September 2023, according to court documents Alvarez and Marsal has conducted at least four investigations to cooperate with the FBI. Such procedures resulted in higher fees for the company. According to the news portal BloombergTwo individual consultants’ bills for investigation-related tasks for the FBI exceeded $21,000.
The documentation of Alvarez and Marsal’s work does not explain the FBI’s purposes for the information provided to it by the company. However, the money intended to pay the applicable fees would come from FTX’s coffers. This may ultimately impact the recovery of funds that the customers of the exchange in question are still waiting for.
CriptoNoticias recently reported that FTX’s official committee of creditors announced a plan that would be based on a “deficit requirement.” This would allow debtors to exchange Together they receive 90% of the assets available for distribution. However, as the money available in the funds continues to decrease, the share per customer becomes smaller and smaller.
Meanwhile, FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried (SBF) was found guilty on all charges in court. Two of them for electronic fraud, four for conspiracy to commit fraud and one for money laundering. After this verdict SBF could receive a prison sentence of more than 100 years.
The progression of the story of the FTX exchange and its users to this point is clear evidence of the Bitcoiner saying, “If it’s not your keys, it’s not your Bitcoins,” pointing to the importance of self-custody of assets . something that, thanks to Bitcoin, can be easier and more effective than many people think.
As if that weren’t enough, it’s not just the funds of users of platforms like FTX that are at risk. Your personal information and privacy are also at risk, like in this case those under scrutiny during an FBI investigation.