FTX Foundation staffer fights for $275K bonus promised by SBF

November 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

FTX Foundation staffer fights for 5K bonus promised by SBF

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.

*Excerpt of Ross Rheingans-Yoo’s Nov. 13 response to FTX Debtor’s objection. Source: Kroll*

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.

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

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
— Sunil (FTX Creditor Champion) (@sunil_trades) July 20, 2023

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?

LinksDAO wins bid to buy its first golf course, says CEO

March 17, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Adam Besvinick

The successful bid comes a month after 88.6% of LinksDAO token holders voted in favor of putting in a “compelling offer” for the golf course in its governance vote.

The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO)-operated golf startup, LinksDAO is primed to become the new owner of the Spey Bay Golf Club in Scotland after successfully winning a bid to buy the course initially listed for just over $900,000.

After winning the bid, the DAO has entered into an exclusivity agreement with the vendor and will look to formally close the deal in early April.

We won the bid.

WE'RE BUYING A GOLF COURSE!!!
— Links (@LinksDAO) March 16, 2023

In the meantime, the DAO is undergoing its “due diligence” phase before it officially puts pen to paper, CEO Jim Daily said in a Twitter Spaces eveon March 16.

While the initial listing was a tick over $900,000, a report from Golf Digest suggested the final sale price is expected to be higher. Links CEO Daily said that they’re not planning on revealing the purchase price until the contract is signed.

LinksDAO put in the highest offer over “several other potential buyers,” the report added.

LinksDAO — self-described as a “global group of golf enthusiasts” that is on a mission to build the “world’s greatest golf community” — put in the bid following a community vote that saw 88.6% of 4,300 LinksDAO members vote in favor of putting in an offer.

If the deal closes, it would be the DAO’s first golf course purchase.

We've entered into an exclusivity agreement to purchase Spey Bay Golf Course on the Moray coast of northern Scotland! Thank you to @GolfDigest for covering the purchase. Read more https://t.co/rAcfrvJsIe
— Links (@LinksDAO) March 16, 2023

The DAO is still “working through the details” of the course membership structure and hasn’t confirmed what benefits would be provided to LinksDAO token holders who wish to access the golf course.

As for the state of the golf course right now, Besvinick described it as “playable.”

“It’s good, it’s going to be getting a lot better soon and we think it’s going to be great by this time or springtime next year.”

If the deal is closed, Besvinick said that the DAO would keep the course open until it starts renovations.

Links is seeking advice from several architects to remodel the golf course, because it has “suffered from weather and erosion issues over recent decades,” head of strategy Adam Besvinick explained in the Twitter Spaces.

“Improved maintenance will elevate this site significantly,” he added.

Daily and Besvinick explained in its community proposal to purchase the course that the high ceiling to low price ratio of the Scottish course made it “too special to ignore.”

“Even a price triple the ‘guide price’ would be cheaper than most mediocre courses we have assessed thus far in the U.S.”

Cointelegraph reached out to Links for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Bankruptcy Court Terminates FTX Naming-Rights Agreement for Miami Heat Arena

January 12, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Kentucky to scrutinize contracts offering cheaper electricity to miners

December 6, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The Kentucky government is investigating whether the proposed discounted electricity for crypto miners will raise electricity costs for Kentucky residents.

The Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) has reportedly opened a formal investigation into two proposed contracts that would offer discounted electricity prices to new crypto-mining operations.

According to a Dec. 5 statement from environmental law group Earthjustice, the government department would be looking to determine whether subsidizing crypto mining operations will raise electricity costs for Kentucky residents.

The two mining contracts under investigation include one between Kentucky Power and Ebon International LLC, which runs a 250-megawatt mining facility in Louisa, as well as mining company Bitki-KY, which operates a 13-megawatt facility in Waverly, Kentucky.

The contract proposes to give discounted electricity rates to the Ebon Facility, while the Bitki-KY has already received a $250,000 tax credit from the state of Kentucky after the passing of a Kentucky tax break bill for local crypto miners.

Earthjustice argued in its statement said that crypto mining is “extremely and exponentially energy-intensive by design” and that the discounted rates for the facilities “could result in higher electric bills for everyday Kentuckians.”

A senior attorney for the environmental group, Thomas Cmar, said it was “looking forward to the upcoming hearings and discovery process so Kentuckians can know exactly what they would be paying for by subsidizing these facilities, ” adding:

"I'm hopeful that the Commission will see these cryptocurrency mining companies' empty promises that they will benefit local communities [...] and give more scrutiny to contracts like these in the future.”

“Cryptocurrency mining is a largely unregulated and highly energy intensive industry that could cost everyday Kentuckians big,” he added.

The group also claimed that crypto mining companies rarely create employment opportunities because of the highly automated nature of mining operations.

Lane Boldman, the executive director of environmental advocacy group Kentucky Conservation Committee, added that the burden of costs associated with building new crypto mining facilities “often lands on everyday people” as “everybody else's electric bills go up to cover the costs.”

Kentucky has become a hotspot for crypto mining companies, which is reported to now contribute 20% of the country’s computer power for proof-of-work mining activities, which ranks second among all U.S. states after New York, according to an Oct. 9 CNBC report.

But while many environmental groups want Bitcoin (BTC) and other proof-of-work blockchains to transition to proof-of-stake due to energy concerns, the Bitcoin Mining Council recently published a report suggesting that Bitcoin could soon become a “zero-emission network” by “combusting stranded methane gas to mine BTC that would have otherwise been emitted into the atmosphere.”

Cointelegraph reached out to the PSC for confirmation and details behind the investigation but has not received an immediate response.

Earthjustice noted that it collaborated with the Kentucky Resources Council to file comments on behalf of a broad coalition of Kentucky-based environmental groups and requested for the PSC to look into the matter.