FTX was run like a “personal fiefdom” of former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, a lawyer for the failed cryptocurrency exchange said in a Wilmington, Delaware bankruptcy court on Tuesday.
The comment came during the first bankruptcy hearing for the collapsed crypto exchange, one of the biggest in the world. The hearing was live-streamed on both YouTube and Zoom.
FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States on Nov. 11 after facing a liquidity crisis. A potential rescue deal by larger rival Binance was ultimately abandoned and traders swiftly pulled billions from the platform.
According to a Nov. 16 court filing, FTX is reported to have $1.24 billion in cash balance, with $751 million of that held in debtor entities, and the remaining $488 million held with non-debtor entities….