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FTX’s bankruptcy advisers sued crypto exchange Bybit Fintech Ltd and two corporate affiliates to recover cash and digital assets valued at roughly $953 million that was withdrawn from Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange before it filed chapter 11 a year ago, Bloomberg News reported. The lawsuit filed Friday in Delaware court alleges Bybit’s investment arm, Mirana Corp., had special “VIP” benefits, which most FTX customers didn’t have, and used those special privileges to get most of its assets off Bankman-Fried’s platform before it collapsed in November 2022. Mirana pressured FTX employees to fulfill its withdraw requests as regular customers of FTX.com waited hours trying to get money off the exchange as it collapsed, according to the complaint. The lawsuit seeks to recover assets worth roughly $953 million, a figure that includes more than $327 million Mirana allegedly withdrew from FTX between the early morning of Nov. 7 and Nov. 8 2022, when Bankman-Fried’s exchange paused withdraws. The bankruptcy lawsuit names Bybit Fintech Ltd., Mirana and an affiliated crypto trading firm named Time Research Ltd. The lawsuit also lists as defendants a senior Mirana executive at the time and Singaporean residents whom the complaint alleges either benefited or had a role in the FTX withdraws, which are subject to the bankruptcy suit.

A year after the bankruptcy of FTX, the cryptocurrency industry is irrevocably altered — while at the same time in many ways remarkably familiar, Bloomberg News reported. Mostly gone are the day traders and the abundant leverage that drove Bitcoin to its November 2021 high at close to $69,000. Same for celebrities and social-media influencers peddling nonfungible tokens and memecoins. Regulators determined not to get caught off guard again are tightening their grip. And large financial firms like BlackRock Inc. are moving in, drawn by the prospect of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission giving its first blessing for an ETF investing directly in Bitcoin. Perhaps the most tangible indicator that crypto has moved on: Bitcoin has recovered all its losses since the May 2022 implosion of stablecoin TerraUSD, which set in motion the wave of failures that ultimately helped bring down FTX. Some observers see an industry still afflicted by rampant speculation and insufficient safeguards. The Tether stablecoin, a pillar of the sector long dodged by speculation about the quality of assets backing it and allegations that it’s being used by criminals, has become more dominant in recent months. Binance, the biggest exchange, still operates without a formal headquarters.

A top financial regulator is crafting a plan to ensure that more derivatives exchanges keep client funds separate from their corporate cash, the latest response by U.S. policymakers to the havoc wrought by fallen crypto giant FTX, Bloomberg News reported. A draft proposal being worked on by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission would expand the scope of existing regulatory defenses to apply to exchanges that let customers trade without going through a brokerage. A version of those limits helped keep FTX from raiding customer funds at its LedgerX subsidiary, a former unit of Sam Bankman-Fried’s sprawling crypto universe that was overseen by the CFTC, according to one of the agency’s commissioners. The CFTC required the firm to separate customer and company assets as a condition for letting it offer crypto derivatives fully backed by collateral directly to customers. Kristin Johnson, a Democratic member of the CFTC, said rules requiring segregation of customers assets should apply to any firms using or seeking similar direct-to-customer models, whether they’re offering crypto products or other types of derivatives. That argument is bolstered by LedgerX’s insulation from the broader crumbling of the FTX empire and a desire to avoid such crises going forward. The CFTC should act immediately to put in place rules to prevent misuse or loss of customer funds, in light of events like FTX’s collapse, Johnson said. “This is especially critical when we are considering direct-to-retail market structures for complex financial products, like leveraged, crypto derivatives transactions, and particularly important when permitting untested liquidation and resolution approaches,” she said.

A company run by former New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley is among three suitors vying to buy the remnants of FTX, as the auction for the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried reaches its final stages, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bullish, the crypto exchange run by Farley, fintech startup Figure Technologies and crypto venture-capital firm Proof Group are competing to buy FTX, according to people familiar with the matter. The winner could restart the exchange after its planned exit from bankruptcy next year. A banker advising FTX on the process said at a hearing last month that the company received interest from over 70 parties and narrowed it to three, without naming them. A winner could be picked in December. CoinDesk earlier reported on Proof’s bid; the other two haven’t been previously reported. There are no guarantees a deal will come together, and another suitor could yet emerge. As recently as last fall, FTX ranked as one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges, handling billions of dollars in trading volumes for individual investors outside the U.S. and professional traders. Venture capitalists valued FTX at $32 billion in January 2022, making Bankman-Fried a billionaire several times over. It collapsed abruptly in November 2022 following a run on FTX customer funds. Prosecutors charged Bankman-Fried with fraud, accusing him of using a back door to plunder billions of dollars of customer funds and spend it on luxury real estate, personal investments and political donations. A New York federal jury last week convicted him on all seven counts he faced. He is expected to be sentenced in March and faces up to 110 years in prison.

Congressional pressure is growing on the U.S. Treasury to help salvage trucking giant Yellow from bankruptcy, from Republicans and Democrats alike, letters viewed by Reuters show. Republican Senator Josh Hawley is the latest lawmaker to ask Treasury, in a letter on Thursday, to extend the terms of a controversial $700 billion pandemic loan granted by the Trump administration to Yellow. It follows separate letters sent by Republican Senator Roger Marshall and Democrats Sherrod Brown and Bob Casey last month. Earlier this week, Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey sent letters. Republicans and Democrats pushing Treasury could benefit Jack Cooper, one the largest U.S. privately owned auto transport companies, making its long-shot bid to rescue Yellow from bankruptcy liquidation more likely. Key to Jack Cooper's bid is convincing Treasury to extend the loan currently due at the end of September 2024 to the same time in 2026, allowing Jack Cooper to offer more favorable terms for Yellow.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal fraud conviction came just as the FTX implosion was approaching its first anniversary. But for others who helped promote the cryptocurrency exchange, the legal fallout will continue for years, Bloomberg News reported. Attention now turns to a sweeping class-action suit in Miami federal court by investors who claim they lost billions in the collapse of FTX and seek to pin blame not just on Bankman-Fried and his inner circle, but also on celebrities who were paid to endorse it to the masses, as well as bankers, accountants and lawyers who propped up the empire’s legitimacy. Flashy advertisements featuring Larry David and Tom Brady touting FTX were among the very first bits of evidence shown to the jury at the start of a monthlong trial in Manhattan that culminated in Bankman-Fried being found guilty last week of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. The class action, which seeks to cover hundreds of thousands of investors, alleges that celebrity endorsers and firms that provided financial and legal services to FTX would have seen red flags about the business if they had done proper due diligence. The Miami case seeks unspecified damages for the $8 billion that FTX allegedly “stole” from investors — and most of which “vanished.” The guilty verdict for Bankman-Fried doesn’t directly establish a central contention in the class action — that dozens of celebrities and other alleged enablers should have known he was up to no good when they signed on as advisers or brand ambassadors. But the 31-year-old’s conviction for what Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor Damian Williams called “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history” will add momentum to the investors’ case, according to Daniel Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School.

The office of Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell on Monday filed a petition objecting to the proposed terms of the chapter 11 voluntary bankruptcy of Vantage Travel, the Boston-based international travel company that went out of business last month, the Boston Globe reported. In a 15-page petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boston, Campbell joined with the attorney general of New York in saying the proposed terms of liquidation of Vantage’s paltry remaining assets doesn’t do enough for consumers. Thousands of Vantage customers are owed a total of more than $100 million in refunds for trips the company booked but then postponed or canceled. The attorneys general in New York and Pennsylvania earlier this year sued not only Vantage on behalf of customers in their state, but also Vantage’s founder and longtime owner Hank Lewis, who may have personal assets that could be subject to the proceedings. The suits accused Vantage and Lewis of “persistent fraudulent conduct” and “deceptive and unfair business practices” in the handling of customer deposits. In Monday’s filing, Campbell’s office said the bankruptcy proceedings unfairly treats customers as “general unsecured” creditors, when they should be treated as priority creditors for at least the first $3,350 owed to them. It also says future travel credits offered to customers “are really just coupons” which aren’t appropriate for settling claims.