FTX paid over $120 million in advisor fees between February 1 and April 30

The legal and advisory costs for bankrupt crypto exchange FTX are mounting.

Filings submitted on June 15 by FTX’s advisors show that fees and expenses for the period between February 1 and April 30 totaled $121.8 million, according to data compiled by The Block Research. 

FTX lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell billed the bankrupt exchange $37.6 million for the period, amounting to 30.9% of all fees and expenses. Investment banking firm Jefferies billed the lowest amount, making up 0.6% of the total fees and expenses. 

Restructuring consultants at Alvarez and Marsel charged $37 million with over $1.1 million in expenses that included $51,225 in meals, $149,155 in lodging and other miscellaneous items amounting to $1,995. 

“As restructuring advisors, their claims and compensation sit on top of other claims and are ‘super senior’ to the unsecured claims bucket which includes customer deposits,” The Block Research’s Greg Lim. 

Exchange restart 

The mounting costs of FTX’s bankruptcy are fueling a movement among some former clients to reboot the exchange under new leadership to return value to customers. 

Travis Kling, the chief investment officer at Ikigai Asset Management, once referred to a reboot as “one of the most bullish outcomes possible for creditors.” Ikigai held a majority of its assets on FTX.

Loomdart, an anonymous crypto personality, is leading the charge on a movement dubbed the FTX 2.0 coalition. In his view, the regulatory woes facing Coinbase and Binance make a relaunch more viable. 

Per filings, FTI Consulting spent about 686.8 hours and billed fees of $761,997.70 on a workstream titled “Exchange restart.”

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