FTX Disclosed Related-Party Transactions but Didn’t Name Names
The saga of Sam Bankman-Fried‘s bankrupt crypto empire isn’t just about collapsing tokens, missing billions and sunny offshore tax havens; there were also red flags in its books, the Wall Street Journal reported. At the core of FTX Trading Ltd.’s financial statements was a series of related-party transactions. But the company didn’t say who those parties were. On its balance sheet, the largest asset as of Dec. 31 was a “related party receivable” valued at $1.2 billion, or 44% of its assets. Its liabilities included a $362 million “related party payable.” FTX Trading last year paid $250 million, or 25% of its revenue, to an unnamed related party for “software royalties,” as previously reported by The Wall Street Journal, which viewed the documents. As a closely held company, FTX Trading didn’t disclose its financial statements publicly, though they were shared with investors. In a footnote to the financial statements, the company said its “primary shareholder is also the primary shareholder of several related entities which do business with the company.” It didn’t say who the related parties were for any specific transaction it disclosed.
