FTX had around $1.4 billion in cash reserves at the end of 2022, according to an interim financial statement provided by its legal team on Tuesday. In comparison to the US$1.2 billion that was disclosed on November 11 when FTX filed for bankruptcy, the new cash level is around 20% greater. Liquidators stated in court testimony at the time that at least $8 billion in client assets were missing.
According to the court statement, FTX affiliates with U.S. locations, including the FTX US exchange, had $261 million in cash at the end of 2022.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX and company founder, has always asserted that FTX US was solvent despite the fact that he is now on bail while being held on accusations of wire fraud and money laundering.
FTX US "had at least $111 million and probably about $400 [million] of surplus cash on top of what was required to match customer balances," he claimed in his personal blog last month. Bankman-Fried entered a not-guilty plea. He will stand trial in October 2023.
More than nine million FTX customers and creditors have been affected by the collapse of the Bahamas-based exchange, and liquidators have been looking for money to pay them back. Bankman-Fried resigned as the organization's CEO after declaring bankruptcy in November of last year.
The FTX liquidators reported in January that they had recovered liquid assets worth at least $5 billion, including securities and crypto assets. According to the liquidators, they plan to sell some of the assets gradually to prevent price swings brought on by big transactions.The court filings also showed that FTX had 195 employees overall at year's end, a 40% reduction from when the business filed for bankruptcy.
Consequently, the number of group employees also decreased from 320 at the time of FTX's bankruptcy filing on November 11 to 195 by year's end.
Sam Bankman-Fried, a discredited former crypto tycoon, is accused by the US of fraud. He has pleaded not guilty to the accusations and will go on trial. Administrators are examining the ruins to see how much may be given back to creditors.
