FTX CEO: The exchange only had 105 BTC when he took over

Author: Cheyenne Ligon, CoinDesk; Compiled by: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

FTX’s current CEO John J.Ray III refuted his discredited ’s predecessor Sam Bankman-Fried called the claims “absolutely, callously and demonstrably false” that customers lost “zero” funds in the exchange’s 2022 collapse ".

In a victim impact statement written by Ray on behalf of FTX and its subsidiaries, Ray told New York District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan that Bankman-Fried claimed its exchange was solvent " The "delusional" claim is a "mischaracterization" of the estate's January statement that it expected customers to be repaid in full.

Bankman-Fried and his legal team relied heavily on the estate's recovery, arguing in sentencing submissions in February that there would be "zero harm to customers, lenders and investors," Therefore, Judge Kaplan should have considered a maximum sentence of 6.5 years in prison - far less than the 40-50 years recommended by prosecutors or the 100 years recommended by the probation department.

However, Ray believes that just because FTX Assets was able to scrape together enough money to repay the exchange’s customers – largely due to the rise in Bitcoin prices and “spent Tens of thousands of hours ... digging through the rubble of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s vast criminal enterprise for every dollar, token or other asset” — does not mean that Bankman-Fried’s actions were not criminal.

Ray told the court that when he took over, the exchange's coffers were nearly empty - just 105 Bitcoins were left on the platform, out of the nearly 100,000 Bitcoins to which customers were entitled.

Ray said some of the missing assets have been recovered, while others, including bribes paid to Chinese officials and Bankman Fried's various investments or purchases with celebrities and politicians Gone are the "hundreds of millions of dollars" spent on exposure opportunities.

"The harm is immense. The remorse is non-existent," Ray wrote in Wednesday's court filing. "Effective altruism, at least according to Sam Bankman-Fried, is a lie."

Ray told the court that despite current plans to recover their funds, many of FTX's clients remained concerned Its fund's valuation was "extremely unsatisfactory."

Because clients will receive refunds based on the value of their portfolios at the time of the bankruptcy - rather than the higher value today - they "will never return to the same economic position they would be in today without SBF's massive fraud." ”, Ray argued.

In victim impact statements filed earlier this week, dozens of FTX customers detailed the emotional and financial toll the exchange's collapse had on their personal lives.

Ray writes: “You should not be fooled into thinking that [filing for bankruptcy] is not necessary because of asset appreciation or the ability of professionals to recover funds and assets stolen or stolen from an estate.”