FTX Foundation Employee Seeks to Retrieve His 2022 Salary Bonus
- A former FTX Foundation employee seeks to recover $275K from the firm as his remainder 2022 salary bonus.
- Ross Rheingans-Yoo argued that only $375,000 of his $650,000 bonus was paid by the firm.
- The exchange claims that Rheingans-Yoo opted to be paid less prior to the exchange’s bankruptcy filing.
- The plaintiff states that he was not part of SBF’s “inner circle” and did not know about fund misappropriation.
An employee of the charity wing of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, Ross Rheingans-Yoo, is seeking to retrieve the remainder of his 2022 salary bonus, which is worth a whopping $275,000. The exchange founded by disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF in the digital asset space, is currently trying to restart operations and is covering money from all possible candidates.
In a court document submitted on November 13, the lawyers representing Ross Rheingans-Yoo argued that only $375,000 of his $650,000 bonus was paid by FTX, while adding that the bankrupt exchanges owe him the rest of the funds. When the exchange filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, Rheingans-Yoo’s payment was also stuck with the firm.
It is important to note that Rheingans-Yoo’s argument comes after FTX objected to his claims in an objection filed on October 30. The former employee also shared a Google document wherein Bankman-Fried laid out his terms of employment at the FTX Foundation, which came with a $100,000 base salary.
The lawyers also noted that Rheingans-Yoo was not a part of Sam Bankman-Fried’s “inner circle” and wasn’t aware of the fact that SBF and FTX were misappropriating customer funds, with his lawyers adding:
“Instead, Rheingans-Yoo was a faithful employee who found himself in a mess he did not create.”
In the court document, the former employee at FTX Foundation also noted that he is entitled to a further $650,000 specifically to donate to charity, a prepetition salary payment of about $5,700, and a post-petition salary of at least $62,800. On the other hand, the advisors claim that FTX has already fully paid Rheingans-Yoo his bonus because he opted to be partially paid via options in the firm’s corporate affiliates before it filed for bankruptcy.
Interestingly, Rheingans-Yoo denies these claims of FTX advisors, and the outcome will be determined by a Delaware bankruptcy judge who is overseeing the exchange’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The bankrupt exchange sued digital asset trading platform Bybit Fintech Ltd. on November 10, claiming that the exchange withdrew funds prior to the exchange’s collapse on November 11, 2022.
According to earlier reports from BitcoinWisdom, the jury found FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried guilty on all seven counts against him. He will return to court on March 28, 2024, for his formal sentencing.
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.
