The Financial Crimes Investigation Section of the Bahamas Police Force has announced the opening of a criminal investigation into the collapse of cryptocurrency and other crypto assets trading platform FTX.
«In light of the global bankruptcy of FTX and the provisional liquidation of FTX Digital Markets Ltd, a team from the Financial Crimes Investigation Section is working closely with the Bahamas Securities Commission to investigate whether any criminal conduct has occurred,» the police force said in a statement.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is also investigating former FTX CEO Samuel Bankman-Fried.
On Friday FTX announced that it had decided to file for Chapter 11 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Act to conduct the asset valuation and liquidation process in an orderly manner for the benefit of its stakeholders.
In a statement, the platform explained that the FTX Group process includes FTX US, as well as the trading firm Alameda Research and a total of 130 affiliated entities.
The firm also announced the resignation of Samuel Bankman-Fried as CEO of the company, and John J. Ray III has been appointed to head the company.
FTX’s solvency had been called into question after its rival Binance decided to back out of its intention to come to the platform’s rescue, after having carried out due diligence and in view of the opening of investigations by government agencies in the United States.
Previously, at a conference with investors, the then still CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, had put the platform’s hole at around $8 billion (a similar figure in euros), including the need for around $4 billion for the firm to maintain its solvency.
