Bahamas regulator holds FTX assets pending delivery to customers, creditors

The Securities Commission of the Bahamas said on Thursday that it is holding FTX assets worth $3.5 billion based on market pricing at the time of transfer on a temporary basis to deliver them to customers and creditors who own them.

FTX’s Bahamas unit’s digital assets were transferred to digital wallets under the exclusive control of the commission in November soon after the company and its hedge fund Alameda Research and dozens of affiliates filed for US bankruptcy.

Upon completion of the transfer, FTX founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang no longer had access to the tokens that were transferred or frozen, the executive director of the commission, Christina Rolle, said in an affidavit filed with the Bahamas Supreme Court.

“All transferred assets were and remain under the sole control of the commission,” Rolle said.

Lawyers for crypto exchange FTX earlier this month opposed a demand for internal records from its Bahamian business, saying they “do not trust” the Bahamian government with data that could be used to siphon off assets from the bankrupt company.

The authorities in the Bahamas, where the company had its headquarters, appointed liquidators to wind down FTX’s international trading business soon after the company announced bankruptcy.