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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?

Workers in volatile economies most likely to take pay in crypto: Report

July 22, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

There has been an increase in employee crypto payments for the first half of this year despite the market crash, according to Deel.

Residents in nations with volatile economies are more likely to receive their pay in crypto, according to global hiring platform Deel.

In its “State of Global Hiring Report” shared with Cointelegraph on July 21, the firm found that despite the 2022 bear market, crypto represented 5% of all global payments withdrawn from the platform every month, up from 2% in the second half of 2021.

Residents in nations with volatile economic situations and currencies were most likely to take their payments in crypto, according to the report. These included countries in Latin America (LATAM) and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

Crypto withdrawals in the LATAM region represented 67% of the total, with EMEA countries at 24%. Those from the North American region represented just 7% of the total for crypto payments. The Asia Pacific region was even lower with just a 2% share of the whole.

In terms of asset type, Bitcoin (BTC) remained the crypto of choice, making up 47% of the total. The second choice of digital asset for payments was Circle’s USDC with 29%, followed by Ethereum (ETH) at 14%. Tether’s USDT did not make the list.

Shannon Karaka, Head of Expansion ANZ for Deel, told Cointelegraph that in general, "we find that people typically only withdraw part of their pay in crypto, which could mean they are still using it as a long-term investment vehicle as well," before adding:

“From what we’ve seen in the field, getting paid in crypto is most attractive to three main groups of people; those who use the tool to hedge against local currency instability, those working in jurisdictions with dated local banking systems that can slow down payroll, and those who are adding some crypto coin to their investment portfolio. The majority of our crypto withdrawals are coming out of LATAM and EMEA, which is likely driven by the first two use cases.”

Deel sourced the data from over 100,000 cross-border worker contracts on the platform between January and July 2022. The firm helps businesses compliantly hire, onboard, and pay people in different countries. It noted that LATAM tops the list of regions hiring internationally.

Surging inflation is a concern for many countries in the Latin American region. Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Paraguay all have double-digit inflation, according to Trading Economics.

Diminishing purchasing power using their own fiat currencies is likely to have influenced the increase in crypto payments to regional workers.

Crypto salaries are becoming a popular way to attract young talent

December 21, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

Crypto adoption is right around the corner as more millennials opt to get their salaries in crypto.

Athletes and politicians made headlines as they opted to get paid in crypto earlier this year. Now, in an attempt to attract a younger workforce, companies are starting to offer crypto salaries.

A recent CNBC article highlighted two different cases where young talent is paid in crypto. University student Stephen Gerrits and artist Tiyanna Brown decided to receive their pay in cryptocurrencies. Gerrits works part-time at a tech startup, while Brown sells digital art in exchange for Ether (ETH).

According to Gerrits, he earned more than what he would’ve made in cash due to crypto price changes. However, it doesn’t just always go up. He said that he lets it be, and he finds joy when the prices go up, but the fun ends when prices go down.

Since his bills are covered by other income, he considers his crypto investment. “Why not take the chance or the opportunity to kind of strike it rich, get some money out of it,” he questions.

Meanwhile, 29-year old Tiyanna Brown sells art on Rarible, a platform that lets you receive ETH as payment for your digital art. Brown is optimistic that this will provide better results in the long run. “It’s almost like licensing, so every time someone uses your art, you gain a percentage,” she said. Brown also mentioned that she wants to see the words ‘starving artist’ as “a thing as of the past.”

In 2021 alone, many reports show that athletes are getting paid in crypto. In August, soccer star Lionel Messi received fan tokens for his deal with Paris Saint-Germain. In November, National Football League players Odell Beckham Jr. and Aaron Rodgers chose to accept crypto payments. The former said he would take his full NFL salary in Bitcoin (BTC) while the latter would receive only part of his salary in BTC.

Aside from these, in response to a challenge by Bitcoin evangelist Anthony Pompliano, three US politicians declared that they would accept their salaries in BTC. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, New York Mayor-elect Eric Adams, and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said they would take BTC paychecks.

Back in November, LinkedIn reported that crypto-related job listings increased by 600% since August 2020. Aside from this, large finance companies also offered big bonuses to attract more crypto talent. HR firm Johnson Associates says that crypto positions pay 20 to 30 percent higher than comparable non-crypto positions.

There are also some setbacks when opting to get paid in crypto. One of them is your employer demanding to get the payment back. A letter sent by an unnamed employee to MarketWatch’s The Moneyist says that the employee received crypto for contract work. Following this, the token surged by 700%. The company’s CEO then sent the employee an email to return the digital assets and offered to pay in dollars.

Every Fourth Australian Willing to Be Paid in Bitcoin, Poll Finds

May 29, 2021 Bitcoin.com

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