The Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) recently disclosed that they seized $3.5 billion of assets from bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. On December 29th 2022, Bahamas Supreme Court ordered to obtain digital assets from its parent company, FTX Digital Markets Ltd.
Custody of FTX assets transferred to SCB
According to The Wall Street Journal, executive director of Securities Commission of the Bahamas Christina Rolle stated in an affidavit that authorities seeked control of crypto assets of FTX. Former CEO and co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried confessed to local authorities of a possible hack.
As reported by The Guardian, SBF was subsequently charged with fraud in the US, against conspiracy to commit money laundering, defrauding FTX investors and violating campaign finance laws. Last week, he was extradited to the US and was soon granted bail for a $250 million bond.
As per Bloomberg, the commission said that it has temporary “exclusive control” of FTX assets, until the Supreme Court orders to return funds back to the crypto exchange’s creditors and customers who own them. This move will relieve customers amid an ultimatum provided by the new FTX CEO John Ray III, of loss of more funds by global users than the U.S. one’s.
As per a press release published by the commission: “The digital assets transferred on November 12th, 2022 to digital wallets under the exclusive control the Commission are being held by the Commission on a temporary basis, until such time as The Bahamas Supreme Court directs the Commission to deliver them to the customers and creditors who own them, or to the JPLs to be administered under rules governing the insolvency estate for the benefit of the customers and creditors of FTXDM.”
More scenes emerge from FTX Melodrama
The 30-year-old SBF has cashed out $684,000 in crypto from an exchange at Seychelles while serving his house arrest after FOX Hill prison in Bahamas, as DeFi educator BowTiedlguana’s investigation suggests. Indicating violation of release terms of restriction of spending more than $1,000 without any government approval.
Did disgraced crypto founder Sam Bankman-Fried just cash out $684k to a crypto exchange in the Seychelles while under house arrest?
His release conditions are that he not spend more than $1,000 without permission from the court.
Let's examine the evidence on chain
— BowTiedIguana (@BowTiedIguana) December 30, 2022
Soon after FTX declared a “bank run” and filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 proceedings on November 11, 2022, nearly $372 million of tokens were stolen from the exchange. Blockchain research firm Nansen disclosed that the drained entity saw over $700 million of tokens flow out of the exchange in a day.
The crypto exchange was targeted in a suspected hack that wiped an estimated $447 million from the company’s wallet. Identity of the culprit is yet to be found, per CNBC.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/12/31/over-3-5-billion-of-ftx-assets-under-bahamas-exclusive-control/