FTX Advisors Disclosed Customer Data to the FBI, Report Says
- Billing records tied to Alvarez and Marsal show that the firms shared FTX customers’ data with the FBI.
- The firms pulled off details of trades for FBI offices in Portland, Philadelphia, Oakland, Minneapolis, and Cleveland.
- The two advisors have charged $21,000 for FBI-related services and a whopping $100M since the FTX implosion.
- The fees charged by the two firms will be deducted from the customers’ recovery funds.
The data of customers that have accounts on the now-bankrupt digital asset trading platform FTX is being shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States. A report stated that the advisors for the exchange are responsible, citing official documentation.
As per a report from Bloomberg on November 3, the FTX bankruptcy advisors have disclosed customers’ transactions and accounts with the FBI in response to subpoenas issued by several field offices working for the agency during the past few months. Additionally, the advisors submitted law enforcement records of specific customers’ trades made on the trading platform, breaching promises of privacy.
The FBI requests were disclosed via billing information tied to Alvarez and Marsal, a consultancy firm serving as financial advisers for the bankrupt exchange. Interestingly, in the past few months, the staff working for the consulting firms has pulled off data related to specific customers’ trades for FBI offices in Portland, Philadelphia, Oakland, Minneapolis, and Cleveland.
While the billing records did not reveal the actual subject of the FBI investigation or the reason for the same, a grand jury subpoena is mentioned in one of the records. It is important to note that Alvarez and Marsal confirmed that the firms shared transaction data from FTX’s cloud computing provider in September in response to a subpoena issued by FBI Philadelphia. Following a request from FBI Oakland, the firms also shared information in July. Further, in August, data was handed over to the FBI Portland office.
Interestingly, the cost of all the data exchange will be borne by the customers of FTX. According to Bloomberg, in July, August, and September, two advisers invoiced more than $21,000 for FBI-related services. Since the collapse of the former multi-billion dollar exchange in November 2022, the consulting firms have charged FTX a whopping $100 million in fees, as per the official records. It has been revealed that the money will be deducted from the customers’ recovery funds.
As reported earlier by BitcoinWisdom, Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF in the digital asset space, has been found guilty on all seven counts that he was accused of by the prosecutors. He is facing 100+ years in prison, and the official sentencing will take place on March 28, 2024.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
