FTX Trading, led by new chief executive officer John Ray, has asked a US bankruptcy judge in Delaware to rule that FTX Digital Markets had no ownership interest in FTX.com’s cryptocurrency, intellectual property or customer relationships. — Bloomberg
NEW YORK: Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is suing the liquidators overseeing the wind-down of its Bahamian affiliate, FTX Digital Markets, accusing them of wrongly claiming ownership of the exchange’s assets.
FTX Trading, led by new chief executive officer John Ray on Sunday asked a US bankruptcy judge in Delaware to rule that FTX Digital Markets had no ownership interest in FTX.com’s cryptocurrency, intellectual property or customer relationships.
The Bahamian affiliate was a “corporate shell” and the “centrepiece” of founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s effort “to funnel FTX Trading customer deposits and other valuable property and rights to the Bahamas, out of the reach of American regulators and courts,” according to the lawsuit.
FTX Digital Markets’ liquidators recently asked the Bahamas Supreme Court to rule on which FTX entity is responsible for repaying customers and should control its assets, arguing that the Bahamian company took on a more central role for FTX.com as the company moved to the Bahamas from its previous headquarters in Hong Kong.
FTX’s business plan and a May 2022 change in FTX.com’s terms of service made it clear that FTX “intended to migrate existing international customers to FTX Digital,” the liquidators said in a February filing in the Bahamas court. — Reuters
