FTX Sues Anthony Scaramucci and SkyBridge Capital to Recover Over $100M

Highlights:

• FTX sued Anthony Scaramucci and SkyBridge to recover over $100 million.
• FTX claims Bankman-Fried’s investments with SkyBridge lacked financial logic and served his interests.
• The company is preparing to distribute $12 billion to creditors after filing numerous lawsuits.

The FTX bankruptcy estate filed a lawsuit against Anthony Scaramucci and his hedge fund, SkyBridge Capital. The lawsuit, targeting the former White House communications director, is one of 23 filed Friday in Delaware’s bankruptcy court as part of efforts to recover funds for FTX’s creditors after the company’s collapse. According to court documents, the plaintiffs also include digital asset exchange Crypto.com and political groups like FWD.US, founded by Mark Zuckerberg.

FTX Targets SkyBridge Scaramucci to Recover Funds from Flashy Investments

FTX filed a lawsuit against Scaramucci and SkyBridge Capital for over $100 million. FTX claims that during the 2022 crypto winter, Sam Bankman-Fried engaged in influence-buying and made flashy investments. One key connection he focused on was Scaramucci due to his strong financial, political, and social network. FTX is now targeting these investments, arguing they provided little benefit and only served to boost Bankman-Fried’s standing in politics and traditional finance.

Bankman-Fried made several investments and partnerships with SkyBridge Capital and Scaramucci before the FTX collapse. This began with a $12 million sponsorship of Scaramucci’s SALT conference in January 2022. Shortly after, in March, Bankman-Fried instructed Alameda Research to invest $10 million in the SkyBridge Coin Fund. In return, FTX claims that Scaramucci took Bankman-Fried on a “whirlwind tour” across the United States and the Middle East to pitch investors.

In September 2022, Bankman-Fried and Scaramucci announced that FTX’s venture arm would acquire a 30% stake in SkyBridge for $45 million. FTX’s attorneys argued that the investment lacked financial logic, stating that the FTX Group could have easily purchased the basket of cryptocurrencies for a lower cost than the $45 million spent. 

The filing also accused SkyBridge of breaching the agreement. It claimed that Scaramucci and his partner, Brett Messing, sold bitcoin and Solana tokens purchased through an investment from FTX. FTX lawyers stated that this was a key stipulation of the contract. Using current market prices, the holdings would be worth $120 million. However, they were valued at $60 million when SkyBridge sold them last year. The lawsuit aims to recover investments made by Bankman-Fried in Scaramucci’s properties.

FTX filed a lawsuit against Anthony Scaramucci and his hedge fund SkyBridge Capital as part of a broader effort to claw back money for creditors of the bankrupt company https://t.co/wHTFhcb95u

— Bloomberg (@business) November 9, 2024

FTX Files Lawsuits and Prepares to Distribute $12 Billion to Creditors

The trading platform has filed multiple lawsuits against various entities in its effort to recover funds for creditor repayment. Over the past two years, the bankruptcy court has approved its repayment plans. The firm is now prepared to distribute approximately $12 billion to its creditors. Meanwhile, some of the key figures behind the exchange’s collapse are currently in jail. Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is serving a 25-year sentence, while Ryan Salame and Caroline Ellison are serving 7.5-year and 2-year sentences, respectively.

According to the FTX bankruptcy docket, most of the new lawsuits target non-profit organizations. These are groups that FTX or its executives have donated to in the past. The non-profits are refusing to return the funds. They are seeking to recover amounts ranging from $10 million to as low as $75,000.

#FTX – Friday night special of avoidance actions just hit the docket – As of November 8, 2024, the FTX bankruptcy docket lists several adversary proceedings (APs) initiated against various defendants mainly against 501c's not willing to give the money back – Thread: Charitable…

— Thomas Braziel (@ThomasBraziel) November 8, 2024