OKX to Return $157M Frozen FTX Funds

The crypto exchange OKX has committed to cooperate and return over $157 million in frozen FTX funds to the bankruptcy team.

OKX announced the repatriation of $157 million in frozen assets to the FTX bankruptcy team, according to PR Newswire. Yet, no specifics on which assets the exchange returns are provided.

Following the demise of FTX, OKX has been exploring if they held possession of FTX-related assets. The exchange uncovered certain cash, including assets from David Ratiney’s account, a former FTX employee.

Ratiney declared in a court filing, “From the date the OKX Account was opened through on or about Nov. 10, 2022, the OKX Account, to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief, was controlled and used by Alameda Research LLC and/or its subsidiaries.”

OKX committed to “cooperate with the FTX debtors and law enforcement officials in the hope that these assets will eventually be returned to FTX users through the bankruptcy process.” The bankruptcy team, led by John Ray III, is recovering the funds after the bankruptcy filing of the exchange. Last week, they clawed back $404 million from a Bahamas-based hedge fund, Modulo.

SBF Allegedly Paying His Legal Fees Using Funds From Alameda Amidst OKX Story

Forbes claimed to have acquired evidence showing that SBF made a big monetary donation to Joseph Bankman, his father and a Stanford Law Professor, in 2021 in a piece published on Tuesday.

The money were derived from an Alameda loan of at least $10 million and were effectively transferred to Bankman tax-free utilizing his lifetime estate and gift tax exemption. According to sources, this was close to the highest amount a person may donate in their lifetime, which would have been $11.7 million that year.

Bankman-Fried is represented by Christian Everdell and Mark Cohen, both of whom were on the defense team for Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. According to Forbes, he is also being counseled by David W. Mills, a close family friend of the Bankmans.

After negotiating SBF’s $250 million bail arrangement, the Bankmans enlisted the assistance of fellow professors and Stanford pals. Larry Kramer and Andreas Paepcke, two faculty colleagues, signed co-signed surety guarantees for $500,000 and $200,000, respectively, to allow SBF to remain at home with his parents rather than in prison.