A bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, is attempting to obtain information regarding payments totaling millions of dollars provided to the Center for AI Safety (CAIS), a nonprofit organization dedicated to artificial intelligence safety.
In a filing with the bankruptcy court on October 25, the attorneys representing FTX claimed that the company had granted $6.5 million to CAIS between May and September 2022—a few months before the collapse and announcement of bankruptcy.
FTX, now managed by the current chief executive officer, John J. Ray III, requests permission from a judge in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court to issue subpoenas to CAIS, asking it to confirm whether it received any money and other information about those payments.
FTX states that CAIS allegedly rejected the “requests to voluntarily provide an accounting related to the transfers,” and the two firms exchanged a phone call in August and emails in early October.
The filing is part of an effort by Ray, where FTX is probably seeking to get money back to pay its creditors and clients affected by its collapse in November 2022. FTX stated in a June report that it had recovered about $7 billion and required an additional $1.7 billion to cover funds it claimed were embezzled from customers.
FTX’s proposed subpoenas demand that CAIS is required to provide a variety of transfers, documents, and communications it has received from FTX, FTX Philanthropy, the FTX Foundation, the FTX Future Fund, and “any officer, director, contractor, or employee” of FTX.
Also, correspondence is asked from co-founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang, as well as from Bankman-Fried’s brother Gabriel and father Joseph Bankman, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, and former FTX attorneys Can Sun and Daniel Friedberg, among others.
Also Read: FTX Bankruptcy Estate Sues SBF’s Parents To Recover Funds
