FTX Debtors have disclosed a series of financial statements revealing transactions that benefited company executives shortly before the major cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse in November 2022.
In a recent court filing with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, several payments that directly benefited senior company executives at FTX and Alameda Research were disclosed. Specifically payments or property transfers executed within one year preceding the collapse of FTX.
However, FTX Debtors state that there are no guarantees of the data’s absolute accuracy or completeness and disclaim any liability for errors or omissions.
In March 2022, a transaction of $2.51 million was directed from the company to the American Yacht Group, benefiting former Alameda Research co-CEO Sam Trabucco.
Just a few months after this transaction, Trabucco confirmed ownership of a boat while informing his followers about his resignation in an August 2022 tweet.
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The filing also revealed that Bankman-Fried and FTX co-founder Gary Wang purchased Robinhood shares in April 2022, totalling $35,185,242. They continued their acquisitions of Robinhood in May 2022, spending an additional $19.45 million. It discloses that Bankman-Fired held a 90% share ownership, with Wang owning the remaining 10%.
Recently, Robinhood declared that it has bought back all shares previously held by FTX and Alameda Research.
On Aug. 31, Robinhood completed the purchase of 55,273,469 shares for roughly $606 million. Following the purchase announcement, Robinhood’s chief financial officer Jason Warnick expressed the company’s satisfaction with the outcome:
“We are happy to have completed the purchase of these shares and look forward to executing on our growth plans on behalf of our customers and shareholders.”
Several cash payments were disclosed to executives including Bankman-Fried and Wang, as well as FTX director of engineering Nishad Singh, former FTX chief marketing officer Darren Wong, and former FTX chief operating officer Constance Wang, all within the twelve months prior to the collapse.
However, it notes that the disclosures are limited to fiat currency. “Responses to this question do not currently include all transfers of cryptocurrency, other digital assets or other assets,” it stated.
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A Nigerian court has reportedly delayed the country’s tax evasion case against Binance until April 30 to give time for Nigeria’s tax authority to respond to a request from the crypto exchange. Reuters reported on April 7 that a lawyer for Binance, Chukwuka Ikwuazom, asked a court the same day to invalidate an order allowing for court documents to be served to the company via email. Binance doesn’t have an office in Nigeria and Ikwuazom claimed the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) didn’t get court permission to serve court documents to Binance outside the country. “On the whole the order for the substituted service as granted by the court on February 11, 2025 on Binance who is … registered under the laws of Cayman Islands and resident in Cayman Islands is improper and should be set aside,” he said. FIRS sued Binance in February, claiming the exchange owed $2 billion in back taxes and should be made to pay $79.5 billion for damages to the local economy as its its operations allegedly destabilized the country’s currency, the naira, which Binance denies. It also reportedly alleged that Binance is liable to pay corporate income tax in Nigeria, as it has a “significant economic presence” there, with FIRS requesting a court order for the exchange to pay income taxes for 2022 and 2023, plus a 10% annual penalty on unpaid amounts along with a nearly a 27% interest rate on the unpaid taxes. In February 2024, Nigeria arrested and detained Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla on tax fraud and money laundering charges. The country dropped the tax charges against both in June and the remaining charge against Gambaryan in October. Tigran Gambaryan (right) was seen in a September video struggling to walk into a courtroom in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Source: X Anjarwalla managed to slip his guards and escape Nigerian custody to Kenya in March last year and is apparently still at large. Related: Binance exec shares details about release from Nigerian detention Gambaryan, a US citizen, returned home in October after reports suggested his health had deteriorated during his detainment with reported cases of pneumonia, malaria and a herniated spinal disc that may need surgery. Binance stopped its naira currency deposits and withdrawals in March 2024, effectively leaving the Nigerian market. Magazine: Trash collectors in Africa earn crypto to support families with ReFi
Asset manager Teucrium Investment Advisors is set to launch the first XRP-based exchange-traded fund in the US markets, a leveraged XRP (ETF) on the NYSE Arca. The Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF will seek to offer investors two times the daily return of the XRP (XRP) token with a 1.85% management fee and annual expense ratio, according to the company’s website. The XRP-based ETF will trade under the XXRP ticker beginning April 8. “If you have a short-term high-conviction view on XRP prices, you may consider exploring the Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF,” the alternative asset manager said. XXRP currently has $2 million worth of net assets. Details of Teucrium’s soon-to-be-launched XXRP ETF. Source: Teucrium Teucrium founder and CEO Sal Gilbertie told Bloomberg on April 7 that investors had shown strong interest in an XRP ETF and hinted that it may file to list more crypto ETFs in the future. Gilbertie was also pleased that XXRP would launch during a market downturn driven largely by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. “What better time to launch a product than when prices are low?” Gilbertie told Bloomberg. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said it was “very odd” to see a new asset’s first ETF come in leveraged form — however, he added that the odds of a spot XRP ETF being approved remain “pretty high.” Source: Eric Balchunas Several spot XRP ETF applications from the likes of Grayscale, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, Canary Capital and 21Shares are being reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In February, Balchunas and fellow Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart attributed 65% approval odds to a spot XRP ETF in 2025. Predictions market Polymarket states there is currently a 75% chance that the SEC will approve a spot XRP ETF in 2025. Related: XRP price sell-off set to accelerate in April as inverse cup and handle hints at 25% decline Up until recently, ETF issuers would have seen a different environment for filing for XRP ETFs as Ripple Labs — the creators of the XRP token — and the SEC battled out a four-year court battle over XRP’s security status. That case came to a close last month. Teucrium has amassed over $310 million worth of assets under management since it was founded in 2010. It offers mostly agricultural commodities, such as ETFs tracking the likes of corn, soybeans, sugar and wheat. Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple and industry with no crypto legal precedent set
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Nigeria’s legal history with Binance
Likelihood of an approved spot XRP ETF still high: Analyst
