Odaily Planet Daily News FTX has filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court, suing some investment institutions related to it before bankruptcy. The lawsuit, filed on June 22, contains 16 charges and seeks more than $700 million in damages from the defendants.
The lawsuit names incubators and investment firms K5 Global, Mount Olympus Capital and SGN Albany Capital as defendants, as well as affiliated entities and K5 Global co-owners Michael Kives and Bryan Baum. The lawsuit alleges that FTX’s affiliate Alameda Research transferred $700 million to Kives, Baum and K5 Global prior to its collapse, but the parties involved disguised the transactions as coming from shell companies SGN Albany and Mount Olympus Capital.
The lawsuit seeks the return of funds transferred from Alameda Research to SGN Albany Capital, and funds transferred from Kives, Baum and SGN Albany Capital to Mount Olympus Capital. These transfers of funds have been described as "not acquiring equal value" and, crucially, they were avoidable. In U.S. bankruptcy law, an avoidable transaction is one that can be avoided under the bankruptcy or other laws.
Kives, Baum and SBF also developed a close personal relationship, with Baum even having his own bedroom at the FTX executive's residence in the Bahamas, the indictment said. After FTX went bust, "Kives and Baum worked behind the scenes with SBF to develop a strategy in hopes of finding someone to save the FTX group (and protect their golden goose)."
A spokesperson for K5 Global said the lawsuit had "no legal merit," adding: "K5 is a venture capital firm with over $1 billion in assets under management (excluding investments from SBF and its affiliates). any funds) and invested in 148 companies. In mid-2022, SBF and an Alameda subsidiary acquired one-third of the K5 general partnership in cash and stock and eventually contributed to some of the K5-managed Fund invested $400 million.” (Cointelegraph)