FTX bankruptcy judge approves more than $14 billion payback plan

Almost all of the creditors of failed crypto company FTX will end up profiting from the money they put into the exchange, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled Monday.

Nearly two years after FTX spiraled into bankruptcy, a Delaware judge approved the company’s reorganization plan, which involves paying out more than $14 billion to customers of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange.

“Looking ahead, we are poised to return 100% of bankruptcy claim amounts plus interest for non-governmental creditors through what will be the largest and most complex bankruptcy estate asset distribution in history,” said John Ray, who took over as FTX CEO following the company’s bankruptcy filing in late 2022, in a statement on Monday.

Ray, who also shepherded Enron through bankruptcy, added that the estate is working to finalize arrangements to make distributions to creditors around the world.

The company says it has collected between $14.7 billion and $16.5 billion worth of property for distribution. FTX previously estimated that it owes creditors around $11.2 billion.

According to the plan approved by Delaware bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey, 98% of FTX’s creditors will get 119% of the amount of their allowed claim as of November 2022, when the exchange filed for bankruptcy protection.

The price of bitcoin is up roughly 260% since FTX’s failure. FTX raised the money by selling a number of assets, including venture investments held by the exchange and other investments held by Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s crypto hedge fund.

One of FTX’s most high-profile investments was in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, which is backed by Amazon. FTX sold most of its stake in Anthropic this year for nearly $900 million.

The bankruptcy estate says it will make a separate announcement about the date the payout plan will go into effect and when it anticipates the start of distributions.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of seven criminal counts last November, including charges related to stealing billions of dollars from FTX’s customers. He received a 25-year prison sentence.

— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.

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