A group of the world’s biggest media corporations is making a move to reveal the identities of those who lost money in the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.
According to documents provided by Kroll, FTX’s restructuring firm, Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Financial Times and The Dow Jones Company have filed a motion to unredact the personal information of FTX’s creditors during the bankruptcy process.
The media companies collectively referred to in court documents as “Media Intervenors”, list several reasons attempting to justify the motion and argue that redacting the creditors’ identities is “inappropriate.”
“Initially, the Media Intervenors do not object to sealing the addresses and contact information of the creditors. Nonetheless, absent evidence of a genuine threat to the safety of the creditors, such redaction should not become the norm.
While redaction of contact information arguably may be justified in some circumstances to prevent identity theft and harassment, releasing the names of the creditors neither exposes the creditors to risk of identity theft nor to personal danger. It also does not create undue risk of unlawful injury.”
The motion references the bankruptcy proceedings of Celsius, the now-defunct crypto lending platform that collapsed earlier in 2022, which also revealed the names and balances of the firm’s creditors.
The Media Intervenors also say that European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law, which prohibits the processing of individuals’ data, should have no jurisdiction over FTX clients from the US.
“Debtors provide no legal authority explicitly dictating why the GDPR should apply to the bankruptcy cases of debtors filed in the United States, or specifically, why the foreign laws would take precedence in a situation where United States law requires the disclosure of the information.”
According to the motion, at bare minimum, the names of creditors should at least be revealed if the court finds any reason to redact the rest of their details.
At time of writing, the motive of the Media Intervenor’s motion is unclear.
Joy
