FTX Sues SkyBridge Capital Founder To Recover $100 Million

Key Points:

• The FTX bankruptcy estate has filed a lawsuit seeking over $100 million from SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci and the company.
• FTX lawyers claim the investments with SkyBridge lacked financial justification and accuse SkyBridge of violating contractual terms.

The FTX bankruptcy estate is looking to get over $100 million from SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci and the company as part of an effort to claw back money that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried allegedly routed into sponsorships and investments with Scaramucci’s hedge fund.

Read more: FTX Co-Founder Gary Wang Hopes Not to Go to Jail

FTX Seeks $100M from SkyBridge in Bankruptcy Recovery Effort

Filed in Delaware’s bankruptcy court on Nov. 8, the lawsuit is part of a larger effort to restore assets to FTX’s creditors after the company imploded, Fortune reported.

According to the court filing, Bankman-Fried had approached SkyBridge Capital through a series of investments and sponsorship deals: first, a $12 million sponsorship with Scaramucci’s SALT conference in January 2022, followed by a $10 million investment via Alameda Research into the SkyBridge Coin Fund in March 2022.

In September of that year, FTX paid $45 million to purchase a 30% stake in SkyBridge’s investment management arm. Lawyers for FTX now say was financially illogical. They claim FTX could have bought the underlying assets in the fund more cheaply without the need for the investment.

Bankruptcy Claims Include Alleged Contract Breach by the SkyBridge Capital Founder

Lawyers for FTX also accuse SkyBridge of breaching the pact by selling off some of its digital assets this year without FTX’s prior consent, which they said was obliged under the agreement. The filing also implies Bankman-Fried’s sizeable investment in SkyBridge was for Scaramucci‘s financial “bailout” since the latter’s assets under management had plunged from $9 billion in 2015 to $2.2 billion.

This lawsuit against the SkyBridge Capital founder is one of 23 adversary suits FTX has filed in recent times against multiple entities, including Crypto.com and the political advocacy group FWD.US. These suits make various allegations, including that FTX was insolvent during relevant times and that many of its investments had no value or provided returns out of proportion.