Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly trying to raise money to pay back clients while FTX warns it could have over 1 million creditors
(Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
- Sam Bankman-Fried is trying to raise money to pay back clients and make them whole again, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
- SBF and a few remaining staffers spent the weekend reaching out to potential investors, per the WSJ.
- Separately, FTX warned in an updated bankruptcy filing it could have more than 1 million creditors, up from its prior estimate of over 100,000.
Sam Bankman-Fried has been reaching out to potential investors in an attempt to raise money to repay FTX customers, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The 30-year-old, who last week stepped down as CEO of FTX Group after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, spent the weekend with a few remaining staffers seeking financial commitments that could help make up some of the company's $8 billion shortfall, per the Journal.
It remains unclear whether any investors committed.
Even if SBF raised enough fresh capital to fund repayments, it would likely require negotiations with creditors as well as the approval of the bankruptcy court, according to the Journal.
Also, the $8 billion needed dwarfs the $1.9 billion that FTX raised over its entire existence, the report noted. Most recently, premier Wall Street players like Tiger Global helped FTX raise $400 million in January.
Meanwhile, according to an updated bankruptcy filing, FTX said it may have over 1 million creditors, the latest sign of just how widespread the fallout could be. A week ago in its initial filing, FTX indicated it had more than 100,000 creditors.
FTX only recently had been valued by investors and venture capitalists at a $32 billion valuation, and had over 1 million users on the exchange.
As revealed last week, sister company Alameda Research, also helmed by SBF, had made risky bets funded by client assets from FTX. Reports have put the amount of money transferred from FTX to Alameda at $8 billion or more.