The Bahamas Supreme Court has ordered bankrupt FTX to reimburse the state watchdog, the Securities Commission of Bahamas (SCB), all expenses it will incur on the safekeeping of the bankrupt exchange’s digital assets.
The Bahamas regulator also said that expenses it incurs will be vetted by the Supreme Court and FTX has to pay up, media reports said.
On November 18, the SCB revealed that it directed the bankrupt FTX to transfer all crypto assets under its control to the Commission’s wallet.
An SCB s press release on November 21 said, “The court order confirms the Commission is entitled to be indemnified under the law and FDM shall ultimately bear the costs the Commission incurs in safeguarding those assets for the benefit of FDM’s customers and creditors, like other normal costs of administering FDM’s assets for the benefit of its customers and creditors.”
The SCB added that no payment would be made to its account without the court’s approval.
$300 Million Spent on Bahamas Real Estate
Meanwhile, the latest reports said FTX was being run as a “personal fiefdom” of its founder CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
According to attorneys for the firm, one of the company’s units spent $300 million on buying real estate in Bahamas, including plush homes and vacation properties for senior staff.
Reports also said Bankman-Fried’s FTX and senior executives bought at least 19 properties worth $121 million in the Bahamas in the last two years, per official property records.
The collapse of FTX has left an estimated 1 million creditors in the lurch with losses totaling billions of dollars.
One senior attorney of FTX while appearing for a bankruptcy hearing on Tuesday sought an investigation into Binance’s stake sale in FTX in July 2021, which it purchased in 2019.
