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FTX Diverted $200 Million of Customer Money for Two Venture Deals That Caught the SEC’s Attention

Of the billions of dollars in customer deposits that disappeared from FTX in a flash, $200 million was used to fund investments in two companies, Mysten Labs and fintech company Dave, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which charged founder Sam Bankman-Fried with “orchestrating a scheme to defraud equity investors.”  

In explicitly linking the two $100 million investments to customer money, the SEC has raised the possibility that they’ll be prospects for clawbacks. If FTX bankruptcy trustees can establish that client money funded Bankman-Fried’s investments, they could pursue recovery of those funds as part of an effort to retrieve customer assets.

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