New FTX CEO Blasts Bahamas Officials Over Huge Mysterious Transfers
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
The finger-pointing in the wake of FTX’s implosion is expanding, with the crypto firm’s new CEO John Ray accusing Bahamian authorities on Tuesday of seizing hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto without explanation. Ray said that former FTX execs, including Sam Bankman-Fried, likely aided in this process after the company filed for bankruptcy and its assets were supposed to be frozen. “We’ve repeatedly asked them for clarity about what they’ve been doing. And we’ve been shut down on that,” he alleged of Bahamian officials. Ray also said that Bankman-Fried, in an effort to appease the Bahamian government, allowed local residents to withdraw roughly $100 million of their holdings from FTX while the rest of the world’s assets remained frozen. Bahamian authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a press release on Monday, the country’s Securities Commission called out “misstatements” by Ray, insisting that any actions it had taken were lawful, and that seized assets “will be ultimately distributed, to creditors and clients of FTX, wherever they may be located.”