By next Thursday, August 16, creditors must vote on whether to approve the Chapter 11 liquidation plan of FTX, the once high-flying cryptocurrency exchange. FTX’s former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried aka SBF—the son of two Stanford law professors, who went on to become one of the world’s youngest billionaires—is behind bars. He’s in the process of appealing his convictions for fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering, as well as his 25-year prison sentence. Ryne Miller 🇺🇸 served as general counsel of FTX US, one of several corporate entities that was part of the sprawling FTX empire. Working out of New York, he was not part of SBF’s high-living, Bahamas-based inner circle. But after a fateful phone call in November 2022 from SBF’s father, Joe Bankman, informing Ryne of a multibillion-dollar “liquidity hole”—some $8 billion to $10 billion in FTX customer deposits that had somehow gone missing—he played a crucial role in responding to the situation. By the end of that week, FTX was in bankruptcy. Why did Ryne leave a partnership at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, one of the world’s leading law firms, to become the GC of FTX US? Should he have noticed certain red flags at the company, such as the lack of a board or a weak compliance function? What lessons does he draw from his time at the company? And how is he putting them to work today at his new law firm, Miller Strategic Partners LLP, which marks its one-year anniversary next month? Ryne and I covered all this and more, in the latest edition of the Original Jurisdiction podcast. Thanks to Ryne for joining me, and thanks to NexFirm for sponsoring! https://bit.ly/3T3uHWD #podcast #podcasts #podcasting #law #lawyer #lawyers #attorney #attorneys #legalcareer #legalcareers #regulation #regulatorylaw #finance #crypto #cryptocurrency #FTX #bankruptcy #bankruptcylaw #digitalasset #digitalassets #Bitcoin
Enjoyed speaking with you David Lat - thanks again.
Looking forward to listening to the full story in the weekend.
Mestrando em Direito | Master's candidate in Business Law
5moA PONZI BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD REEK AS FOUL D'après William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet) Meaning no disrespect to the bankrupt company's former counsel, I suppose that my heuristic approach (fancy way of saying "bias") makes it rather hard for me to believe that anyone on the inside could be kept in the dark for very long. It was no secret that the company did not follow minimal governance procedures (starting with its corporate structure), that its disclosure mechanisms were faulty (understatement of the decade) or that it made unrealistic claims (fraud in abstract) regarding the operation's bottom line. It'll be very instructive to able to hear what those involved have to say. Maybe it'll change my opinion. I absolutely must listen to this episode, thank you David Lat!