The Metropolitan Museum of Art will return $550,000 in donations to FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange that went bankrupt in November, according to a publicly available document court documents first reported by Coindesk. The defunct company must about $8 billion to almost a million people. The US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware will hear the case on June 28.
Debtors of the Met and FTX (the company and its subsidiaries) jointly filed their settlement on Friday, June 2. West Realm Shires Services, the parent company of FTX in the United States, gave the Met $300,000 in March last year and $250,000 in May. The museum has not shared an official statement with Hyperallergic.
The court filing says the debtors and the museum “entered into negotiations in good faith and at arm’s length.” By agreeing to the settlement, 100% of the $550,000 will go to the debtors and both parties will avoid further litigation.
In addition to his donations to the museum, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has donated millions of dollars to The politicians on both sides of the aisle, many of whom pledged to return the gifts. After a bankruptcy, the funds can be recovered when a court finds that the company has failed has committed fraud or made a fraudulent attempt.
This seems extremely likely, as the court case against Bankman-Fried alleges that he used client money to finance the losses of FTX-associated hedge fund Alameda Research in a Ponzi-style scheme. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to the host of charges against him: fraud, conspiracy, illegal electoral contributions and transnational corruption. Oral arguments in the Bankman-Fried case begin on June 15.
