FTX, a Crypto exchange firm has recovered more than $5 billion but the extent of customer losses in its collapse is still unknown.
This disclosure was made by an attorney for the bankrupt company founded by Sam Bankman-Fried on Wednesday, according to a report by Reuters.
The company, which was valued a year ago at $32 billion, filed for bankruptcy in November and U.S. prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of orchestrating an “epic” fraud that may have cost investors, customers and lenders billions of dollars.
“We have located over $5 billion of cash, liquid cryptocurrency and liquid investment securities,” Andy Dietderich, an attorney for FTX, told a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Delaware at the start of Wednesday’s hearing.
Dietderich also said that the company plans to sell non-strategic investments that had a book value of $4.6 billion.
However, Dietderich said the legal team is still working to create accurate internal records and the actual customer shortfall remains unknown.
The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission has estimated missing customers at more than $8 billion.
Dietderich said the $5 billion recovered does not include assets seized by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, where Bankman-Fried was located.
FTX’s attorney estimated the seized assets were worth as little as $170 million while Bahamian authorities put the figure as high as $3.5 billion.
The seized assets are largely composed of FTX’s proprietary and illiquid FTT token, which is highly volatile in price, Dietderich said.
FTX’s legal team was in court on Wednesday to seek approval for procedures to sell affiliates LedgerX, Embed, FTX Japan and FTX Europe.
FTX also wants approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey in Delaware to keep customer names secret for at least six months.
FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, 30, was indicted on two counts of wire fraud and six conspiracy counts last month in Manhattan federal court for allegedly stealing customer deposits to pay debts from his hedge fund, Alameda Research, and lying to equity investors about FTX’s financial condition. He has pleaded not guilty.
