FTX seeks $71 million return from its charitable divisions

The leadership of the collapsed FTX is trying to recover about $71 million from the company’s charitable and biomedical divisions.

Only the Latona Scientific Foundation, the foundation of former platform head Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), received about $71.5 million from FTX and Alameda Research. Between February and October 2022, the subsidiaries also invested in Lumen Bioscience, GreenLight Biosciences, Genetic Networks and 4J Therapeutics.

According to the exchange’s lawyers, these donations were made ‘for the personal aggrandisement of Bankman-Fried’.

‘The FTX Foundation was a charitable arm of the group of companies, and Latona was a sham nonprofit registered in the Bahamas,’ according to court documents.

Company representatives added that the former CEO made donations ‘to accumulate political capital and increase his influence’.

In June, FTX filed a lawsuit against SBF’s partners and related firms, seeking to recover $700 million in investments.

Earlier, the U.S. prosecutors indicted Bankman-Fried on 13 criminal counts. He pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Earlier, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York agreed to return $550,000, donated by the exchange.

Previously, FTX lawyers filed a lawsuit against the bankrupt crypto-lending platform Genesis, seeking to recover $4 billion.

The company filed a lawsuit against SBF and other former executives of the bitcoin exchange over the overpriced Embed acquisition.