FTX Leadership Says $3.2 Billion Were Paid Out to Former Execs

In the race to untangle the FTX Group’s balance sheets – which were poorly kept at best and deliberately fraudulent at worst – the new leadership brought in to clean up the mess has uncovered $3.2 billion worth of direct payments to the former execs during the platform’s operation.

Sum Represents Non-Operational Costs

The figure in question was detailed in the Schedules of Assets and Liabilities and Statements of Financial Affairs (Schedules and SOFAs) filed by the FTX Debtors in court on the 15th of March.

Sharing the FTX Debtors’ press release just issued: https://t.co/r7PlneGSXF

— FTX (@FTX_Official) March 16, 2023

According to Bloomberg, this sum does not take into account salaries and other legitimate operational expenses. It also excludes over $240 million spent by the FTX Group to acquire luxury real estate in the Bahamas, as well as the cost of donations, political or otherwise, to third parties. Several other “substantial” transfers to companies and entities not registered as FTX Group subsidiaries were also excluded.

The new leadership of FTX will attempt to recover as many of these missing funds as possible from the former company executives, although how much can actually be retrieved in order to reimburse creditors is unclear at the moment.

“These amounts exclude over $240 million spent to purchase luxury property in the Bahamas, political and charitable donations made directly […]. Although some of the property purchased with the proceeds of these transfers is already in the control of the FTX Debtors or governmental authorities with whom the FTX Debtors are cooperating, the amount and timing of eventual monetary recoveries cannot be predicted at this time.”

Lion’s Share for SBF

Court documents list the sums that went to each of FTX’s hotshots, with SBF receiving over four times as much as anyone else and, surprisingly, Caroline Ellison receiving the least.

According to the FTX Group’s press release, the funds were overwhelmingly “sourced” from Alameda Research’s coffers. Out of the total of $3.2 billion, SBF received $2.2 billion, followed by a sum of $587 million to Nishad Singh and $247 million to Zixiao “Gary” Wang.

Smaller (yet still substantial) sums were also paid out to Ryan Salame ($87 million), John Samuel Trabucco ($25 million), and, finally, Caroline Ellison, who received a “paltry” $6 million.

Most of the people mentioned above are already cooperating with law enforcement, meaning that at least some of these funds will probably be recovered. Unfortunately, two-thirds of them were sent directly to SBF – and only time will tell how much will make their way back to creditors.