$13 Billion Settlement

A judge has approved a $12.7 billion settlement between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and FTX, the defunct crypto exchange founded by convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.

The settlement requires FTX to pay $8.7 billion in restitution and $4 billion in disgorgement, which will be used to compensate victims of what the commission described as a “massive fraudulent scheme” orchestrated by Bankman-Fried, his now-bankrupt FTX group of companies, and a group of FTX insiders.

John Ray, who was appointed CEO of FTX to manage the recovery of assets from the failed company, signed the consent order. Ray stated in a filing with a bankruptcy court six days after his appointment that in more than 40 years of dealing with insolvencies, he had never encountered such a “complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information” as had taken place at FTX.