Bankrupt cryptocurrency company FTX filed 23 lawsuits on Friday against Anthony Scaramucci (pictured above), his hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, Crypto.com and other organizations, including Mark Zuckerberg-backed lobbying group Fwd.us.
These lawsuits are an attempt to recover money for FTX creditors following the company’s collapse. FTX claims the money targeted in the lawsuit was part of an “influence buying campaign” conducted by founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried as the company struggled to meet its own cash flow requirements.
“These ‘investments’ provided little or no benefit to the debtors and instead served only to support Bankman-Fried’s position in the world of politics and traditional finance,” the lawsuit alleges. He maintained his plan by investing in FTX to plug the hole in his balance sheet.”
After the company went bankrupt, FTX executives were found guilty of crimes including fraud and money laundering. Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison and is currently appealing his conviction.
In the case of SkyBridge and Scaramucci (a financier who briefly served as White House communications director in the Donald Trump administration), FTX acquired a 30% stake in SkyBridge in September 2022, just months before FTX went bankrupt and Bankman went bankrupt. announced that it would do so. Freed was arrested.
According to the lawsuit, FTX paid $12 million to sponsor Scaramucci’s SALT conference and invested $10 million in the SkyBridge Coin Fund. In return, FTX said Scaramucci took Bankman-Fried on a “whirlwind tour of the United States and the Middle East” to attract potential investors, and that Scaramucci “invested in the success of Bankman-Fried’s fundraising efforts, giving Bankman-Fried his own “I lent the assets,” he claims. Put on a suit and tie before your meeting so Bankman-Fried doesn’t show up to an important meeting in his trademark shorts and t-shirt.”
Meanwhile, the Fwd.us lawsuit claims the payments made to Fwd.us by Alameda Research, a sibling of FTX, were “part of a coordinated scheme by FTX insiders to siphon money from FTX Group creditors and enhance their own personal reputations at the expense of creditors.” ” he explains. ”
SkyBridge and Fwd.us did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
