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By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Cryptocurrency exchange FTX said in a report filed with creditors on Tuesday that about $415 million in cryptocurrency has been stolen in digital attacks on its systems.
FTX said it has recovered more than $5 billion in cryptocurrency, cash and liquid securities, but that significant shortfall remained in its US and international digital currency operations. FTX attributed some of the shortfall to cyberattacks, saying that $323 million in cryptocurrency has been hacked from the company’s international operations and $90 million from its US unit since the company declared bankruptcy on November 3rd.
The accused founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fred, questioned the figures released by the company.
Bankman-Fried, accused of stealing billions of dollars from FTX clients to pay debts to cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund Alameda Research, said the company’s lawyers presented an “extremely false picture” of the company’s finances.
According to Bankman-Fried, FTX has enough cash to pay US clients, who he said owed the company between $181 million and $497 million. Bankman-Fried has not had access to FTX records since he stepped down as chairman of the exchange in November.
Bankman Fried claims he is innocent of the fraud charges, and his trial is scheduled for October.
FTX said Tuesday that it has recovered $1.7 billion in cash, $3.5 billion in liquid digital currencies and $300 million in liquid securities.
The recovered crypto assets include $685 million, $529 million in FTX (FTT) proprietary tokens, and $268 million in bitcoins, based on cryptocurrency prices as of November 11. Solana, praised by Bankman-Fried, has lost most of its value in 2022.