FTX’s new management has hired a team of forensic investigators to track the billions of dollars that went missing from the crypto exchange. According to Wall Street Journal‘s anonymous sources, the investigators are from the advisory firm AlixPartners. The team is led by Matt Jacques, a former Chief Accountant for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division.
The forensics firm will be in charge of conducting “asset-tracing” to identify and recover the missing digital assets. Alongside, it will complement the restructuring work being undertaken by FTX.
It is worth recalling here that a lawyer representing FTX debtors revealed that, towards the end of November, “a substantial amount of assets have either been stolen or are missing” from FTX. In fact, the funds are being laundered and have been on the move via various crypto mixers and exchanges.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried told the Wall Street Journal in a recent interview that he could not explain what happened to the billions of dollars that were sent from FTX to Alameda Research.
FTX’s newly appointed chief executive, John Ray, said that the firm’s financial reporting was untrustworthy, and he described Bankman-Fried and his colleagues as “potentially compromised.” Mr. Ray also revealed that FTX used software to veil the misuse of customer funds. As per court papers, the 50 largest creditors alone are owed more than $3 billion.
Subpoena “definitely” on the table for SBF
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is supposed to testify before Congress next week. The founder recently stated that he was unsure if he would attend the hearing. Consequentially, a couple of days back, House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters took to Twitter to compel him to attend the hearing.
On Thursday, Waters revealed that the subpoena option was open. Elaborating on the same, she tweeted,
“Lies are circulating CNBC that I am not willing to subpoena SBF. He has been requested to testify at the December 13th hearing. A subpoena is definitely on the table. Stay tuned.“
Also Read: FTX: Congresswoman Maxine Waters Compels SBF To Attend Hearing On 13th