Ex-FTX users report funds being released in $900M distribution round

The trust behind reimbursing creditors from defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX has begun its fifth distribution of funds, sending $900 million to affected users.

In a Friday X post, former FTX user Sunil Kavuri reported that he had received funds distributed from the FTX Recovery Trust and crypto exchange through Kraken. Kavuri said he had received a notice last week that FTX had sent the funds to Kraken, which released them as scheduled on Friday as part of the distribution plan for exchanges including BitGo and Payoneer.

Source: Sunil Kavuri

The distribution will mark the fifth round of attempts of repaying FTX’s creditors since the exchange filed for bankruptcy in 2022. Following this most recent distribution, FTX’s trust is estimated to have paid out about $11 billion to affected users who lost access to their funds for years.

FTX was one of the largest and most prominent exchanges to collapse in 2022 amid a market downturn, resulting in criminal charges being filed against executives due to the misuses of user funds. Former CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried and Ryan Salame, the co-CEO of FTX’s Bahamian affiliate, were still in federal prison as of July, while former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison was released in January after serving more than a year.

Related: US Senate unanimously adopts resolution opposing clemency for SBF

Binance, ex-CEO to face challenge over $1.76 billion claim from FTX

Last week, a bankruptcy court judge ruled that the FTX trust couldn’t pursue damages against crypto exchange Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao. However, Chief Judge Karen B. Owens did not dismiss the trust’s claim in seeking to claw back $1.76 billion from Binance used to repurchase its stake in FTX that it alleged was due in part to “Bankman-Fried’s pervasive and now well-known malfeasance.”

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