- June 3, 2024
- Posted by: [email protected]
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The FTX estate, managed by CEO John Ray III, has sold its remaining shares in the AI startup Anthropic, renowned for its chatbot Claude, according to recent bankruptcy filings. The estate sold its remaining 15 million shares for about $30 each, generating proceeds exceeding $450 million. This sale brings the total earnings from FTX’s initial $500 million investment in Anthropic to approximately $1.3 billion, yielding a profit of around $800 million. The share price in this second sale was the same as the first sale conducted in March. The global venture capital fund G Squared led the buyers in this round, acquiring about one-third of the shares, equivalent to 4.5 million shares, for $135 million. Other venture capital funds made up the majority of the remaining 20 buyers.
Meanwhile, the cost of the FTX bankruptcy has exceeded $500 million in legal and administrative fees, as reported by The Block. Concerns have arisen among FTX creditors about a potential conflict of interest since the primary law firm handling FTX’s bankruptcy, Sullivan and Cromwell, previously represented FTX. This situation has led to the appointment of an independent examiner and a class-action lawsuit. Last year, The New York Times highlighted that law firms have charged hundreds of millions of dollars in fees for crypto company bankruptcies.
FTX CEO John Ray has submitted a bill of $5.6 million to the estate, reflecting his hourly rate of $1,300 since the case began. The estate plans to repay at least 118% of allowed claims, measured in dollar value at the time of FTX’s bankruptcy filing, to 98% of its creditors.
Ryan Salame, FTX Digital Markets’ former co-CEO, has been sentenced to 7.5 years in jail after pleading guilty to two criminal charges. The sentencing occurred on May 28, 2024, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, with Judge Lewis Kaplan presiding. Salame had pleaded guilty in September 2023 and had been awaiting sentencing, having requested leniency in the form of an 18-month sentence.
Additionally, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, has filed to appeal his conviction and 25-year sentence for fraud and conspiracy charges. Bankman-Fried was convicted last November after a month-long trial on seven different charges. Despite his conviction, he continues to seek a reduction in his sentence. Meanwhile, the FTX bankruptcy estate has outlined plans to begin repaying customers by the end of 2024, as revealed during a meeting of FTX Digital’s Joint Official Liquidators in the Bahamas. The FTX bankruptcy process includes Chapter 11 proceedings overseen by a Delaware court in the United States and the official liquidation of FTX Digital, FTX’s Bahamas-based subsidiary.
