FTX management, led by CEO John J. Ray III, has filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange ByBit, investment arm Mirana, and various executives. The lawsuit claims that ByBit officials withdrew funds and crypto assets worth nearly $1 billion from FTX just before the bankruptcy, and FTX is seeking to recover these funds.
Notable Move by FTX
The lawsuit alleges that ByBit officials used their VIP access and connections with FTX staff to withdraw significant amounts of cash and crypto assets from Mirana, Time Research (another organization linked to ByBit), and executives shortly before FTX collapsed.
During the withdrawal difficulties on the FTX platform in November 2022, FTX employees tracked the withdrawal requests of VIP customers in a table labeled “VIP Request – Prioritization.” The lawsuit claims that FTX’s appointed settlement team made significant efforts to prioritize Mirana’s notable withdrawal transactions, resulting in transfers of over $327 million to Mirana. It was revealed that the total value of assets withdrawn from the FTX platform by ByBit and company executives amounted to nearly $1 billion.
In the related lawsuit, it is also alleged that ByBit officials imposed restrictions on assets owned by FTX and prevented the withdrawal of assets exceeding $125 million on the ByBit exchange. According to this claim, ByBit is using the remaining balance of $20 million, which it could not withdraw from the FTX platform before its bankruptcy, to recover.
How Did the Lawsuit Begin?
In the lawsuit, a ByBit executive claims that despite presenting BitDAO as a decentralized organization managed by community members, the company actually controls BitDAO, now known as Mantle, exclusively for FTX. With these developments, ByBit approached the FTX bankruptcy committee for a settlement in May 2023, but at that time, the value of BIT tokens, which was approximately $50 million, and FTT tokens, which were worth approximately $4 million during the process, exceeded the value of the settlement.
After FTX officials rejected this unreasonable offer, BitDAO quickly rebranded as Mantle and introduced the MNT token for BIT holders to convert their balances on a 1:1 basis. It is alleged that FTX conducted a community vote to disable BitDAO and restrict the conversion of its tokens.
According to the lawsuit, FTX informed ByBit officials that this action violated the automatic stay in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. However, the community vote seemingly passed with votes connected to ByBit executives. Notably, the fifth-largest vote came from a wallet called “dtoh.eth” identified as Mirana Ventures, a subsidiary managed by David Toh.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages from ByBit officials regarding the token scheme and assets held on the platform.
