Big banks are battling for new customers in the US, with JPMorgan Chase now offering a total of $900 to entice people to switch banks. Chase’s offer is for people who open both a checking and a savings account and meet certain requirements. Specifically, new Chase customers receive a $300 bonus for opening a checking […]
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FTX Foundation employee Ross Rheingans-Yoo said he was not part of Sam Bankman-Fried’s “inner circle” and knew nothing about FTX’s fraud.
An employee of FTX’s charity wing recruited by FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is trying to get paid $275,000, the remainder of his claimed 2022 salary bonus.
Ross Rheingans-Yoo's lawyers argued in a Nov. 13 court filing that only $375,000 of his $650,000 bonus was paid by FTX. They claim the remaining funds were owed when the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.
Rheingans-Yoo’s latest filing comes in response to FTX’s objection filed on Oct. 30.
Rheingans-Yoo shared part of a Google Doc created by Bankman-Fried that laid out his employment terms at the FTX Foundation, which came with a $100,000 base salary. He claimed Bankman-Fried told him in memo
Rheingans-Yoo iterated he was not part of Bankman-Fried’s “inner circle” and wasn’t aware that FTX misappropriated customer funds with his lawyers adding:
“Instead, Rheingans-Yoo was a faithful employee who found himself in a mess he did not create.”
Rheingans-Yoo claims he is entitled to a further $650,000 specifically to donate to charity, a prepetition salary payment of about $5,700 and a post-petition salary of at least $62,800.
Advisers claim FTX has already fully paid Rheingans-Yoo his bonus because he elected to have the award partially repaid via options in the firm’s corporate affiliates before it filed for bankruptcy.
However, Rheingans-Yoo denies that claim.
The fate of Rheingans-Yoo’s bonus will be determined by a Delaware bankruptcy judge who is overseeing FTX’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Related: FTX files billion-dollar lawsuit against Bybit over asset withdrawals
FTX sued Rheingans-Yoo’s Latona Biosciences Group, Bankman-Fried and several other defendants in July to return $71.6 million in investments and donations allegedly sent to various life science companies.
FTX seeks to recover through avoidance of transfers of $71.5m from
— Sunil (FTX Creditor Champion) (@sunil_trades) July 20, 2023
Life Sciences, Lumen Bioscience, GreenLight Biosciences Holdings, PBC, Riboscience, Genetic Networks, 4J Therapeutics, Latona Biosciences, FTX Foundation, SBF, Ross Rheingans-Yoo and Nicholas Beckstead pic.twitter.com/T7lF3sZmzN
The crypto exchange claims Rheingans-Yoo and Bankman-Fried personally benefited from the investments and donations but FTX and Alameda Research did not.
“Each of these transfers was made with the intent to hinder, delay, or defraud present or future creditors, a fact known by the FTX Foundation, Latona, and Bankman-Fried.”
Rheingans-Yoo claims his work at Latona, which involved analyzing potential recipients, speaking with their founders and executives and conducting due diligence, would’ve produced “positive results for society.”
Magazine: Can you trust crypto exchanges after the collapse of FTX?
Voyager Digital will pay $1.9 million in retention bonuses to key staff members to ensure the beleaguered cryptocurrency lender can continue operating through bankruptcy proceedings.
A New York bankruptcy court has given embattled cryptocurrency brokerage Voyager Digital the green light to pay retention bonuses to key staff members.
The firm filed a motion with the United States Bankruptcy Court on Aug. 2 seeking approval for its Key Employee Retention Plan (KERP) which entailed $1.9 million worth of payments to 38 key employees that have been identified as crucial to the exchange’s ongoing operation.
Creditors of the firm, which filed for bankruptcy in July 2022, had initially opposed Voyager’s KERP payments in a court filing on Aug. 19 claiming that payments to investors should be prioritized ahead of “well-compensated” employees.
According to court filings, an agreement was reached between Voyager and the committee of creditors to drop the opposition to the proposed KERP on certain conditions. Chief among these is the implementation of operational cost-cutting measures to save $4.6 million. The KERP payments are worth 22.5% of the eligible employees’ annual salaries.
Related: Voyager to return $270M in customer funds, says it received 'better' offers than FTX
Voyager maintains that the 38 employees are critical to business operations, performing “essential accounting, cash and digital asset management, IT infrastructure, legal, and other critical functions for the Debtors.”
The court filing also addressed concerns raised by the U.S. Trustee's Office, which oversees administration of bankruptcy cases and private trustees as a component of the Department of Justice.
The U.S. Trustees objected to the KERP proposal claiming that the list of employees set for retention pay-outs may have included “insiders” and that Voyager had not provided ample evidence to justify the proposed bonuses.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles ultimately approved the motion for the KERP payouts, agreeing with Voyagers’ legal team’s assertion that none of the beneficiaries of the bonuses were appointed, sit or report to the board of directors and do not have managerial control of the company.
