FTX Teams in US and Bahamas Coordinate Crypto Recovery Efforts | Crypto News

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The move resolves a dispute that threatened to recover billions of dollars in lost funds, with the two sides at odds since November.

FTX’s US-based bankruptcy team has agreed to coordinate with liquidators to end crypto exchange operations in the Bahamas, resolving a dispute that threatened the recovery of what could be billions of dollars in lost funds .

In a joint statement on Friday, the two sides said they would work to share information, secure assets and coordinate disputes against third parties.

FTX’s US bankruptcy team has been at odds with Bahamian officials since November, when competing bankruptcies were filed in both countries.

The Bahamas Securities Commission began liquidation proceedings on November 10 against FTX Digital Markets Ltd, the company’s Bahamas-based unit.

The next day, a U.S. Chapter 11 proceeding was filed in Delaware, which included more than 100 FTX entities, including FTX Trading and crypto hedge fund Alameda Research. Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code is a bankruptcy usually filed by corporations and involves a reorganization of assets and debts.

Bahamian regulators seized FTX’s assets, which officials said was a way to protect assets that will ultimately be returned to FTX Digital Markets’ creditors.

John Ray, who took control of FTX after founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned in November, had accused the Bahamas-based liquidators of colluding with the disgraced founder to undermine the US bankruptcy filing and transfer assets to the Bahamas.

Rays’ lawyers had denied the liquidators’ request for access to internal systems and Slack and email accounts, saying they did not trust Bahamians with information that could be used to misappropriate team assets from American bankruptcy.

Bahamian securities regulators have accused Ray of taking a cavalier attitude to the truth in his statements about Bahamian asset seizures.

The US team also disputed the size of the seized Bahamian assets, saying they were worth $296 million in November, not $3.5 billion as liquidators estimated. Friday’s statement said the US team was now confident that the assets were properly protected.

Ray said there were still issues to be resolved in the deal with the Bahamian liquidators. Friday’s statement said details of the agreement would be filed shortly with the US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

Ray, one of the liquidators and attorney for the liquidators did not respond to a request for comment.

Bankman-Fried was arrested for fraud and pleaded not guilty on January 3. Ray said the exchange had lost $8 billion in customer money and added that the bankruptcy team was focused on recovering assets to repay creditors.

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