Statistica Capital Sues Signature Bank Over FTX Collapse

The investment firm Statistica Capital has accused Signature Bank of the collapse of FTX by enabling the exchange to commingle client funds on its blockchain network. Bloomberg reports this.

Signature went ahead with it, even though it had observed suspicious transfers through the Signet payment platform, the firm said in the lawsuit filed in the federal court in Manhattan.

In December, the bank said it planned to exit up to $10 billion of client deposits from the digital-asset industry. The institution attributed the move to a policy of distancing itself from the cryptocurrency sector in the wake of the FTX collapse.

As of 14 November 2022, FTX’s assets accounted for less than 10% of Signature’s total deposits.

Statistica contends that the bank had ‘actual knowledge’ of FTX’s fraudulent activities at least since 2020. Signature allegedly ‘substantially facilitated’ the wrongdoing by publicly promoting the exchange, without closing or restricting Alameda and FTX accounts that violated the terms of service.

The firm filed a class-action complaint seeking damages for itself and other companies that suffered losses as a result of Signature’s alleged misconduct.

From February 1, the bank restricted for Binance dollar SWIFT payments of customers to at least $100,000.

The exchange said it would temporarily halt bank transfers in US dollars starting February 8.