BlocksInform
Proposals for ftx and his creditors' committee to subpoena founder sam bankman-fried, his immediate family and the senior personnel in the failed crypto exchange were the subject of opposition from the American trustee, a division of the Ministry of Justice that handles bankruptcies.
The plans, set to be discussed at a Wednesday hearing, would duplicate any independent examination of the exchange’s downfall, U.S. Trustee Andrew Vara said in a legal filing made Thursday. An independent reviewer has not been appointed at this time. The issue of the reviewer will be discussed in a hearing on Monday, with new FTX CEO John Ray testifying.
"if the panel orders that an examiner be appointed, then it could be charged with investigating the same network of entities and transactions" as the proposed RFI, vara said. "The bankruptcy court is obligated to prevent unnecessary expenses in administering the estate."
The FTX filed for bankruptcy protection on 11 November, and Bankman-Fried resigned his CEO position the same day to be replaced by restructuring expert Ray. In a Jan. 25 filing, The new direction of ftx told Bankman-Fried, His brother Gabriel and his parents may have valuable information about what happened to the company's allegedly embezzled funds prior to its collapse.
Potentially key witnesses are not cooperating, said ftx, adding that co-founder Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison, head of the commercial research branch of ftx alameda, specifically refused to provide the requested information.
The U.S. Trustee also opposed a bid to seek information from those who might know about a more than $300 million hack and subsequent laundering of digital assets that took place on Nov. 11-12, whose alleged identities have been redacted from court documents.
bipartisan group of U.S. senators has been among those calling for an independent examiner into the FTX affair rather than letting the company do its own probe. In the parallel case of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network, examiner Shoba Pillay produced her report last Tuesday. In a Feb. 1 filing, Vara argued appointing an examiner for FTX was effectively required by law given the sums at stake.
UPDATE (Feb 3, 2023, 14:15 UTC): Amends subheading and first paragraph to clarify objection is to subpoenas from FTX and creditors.
