FTX Creditor List Features Netflix, Binance, Wall Street Journal

Lawyers for the bankrupt crypto exchange published an extensive list of creditors that includes media companies, airlines, universities and charities.

AccessTimeIconJan 26, 2023 at 12:12 p.m. UTC
Updated Jan 27, 2023 at 3:39 p.m. UTC
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It's the list everyone has been waiting for, minus 9.7 million redacted customer names. But the 116-page FTX creditor list, which names companies including Netflix (NFLX) and Apple (AAPL), still paints a comprehensive picture of the failed crypto enterprise's reach and the impact of its collapse.

Media companies, universities, airlines and charities, among others, appear on the list, a court filing from Wednesday shows. The document was filed by lawyers for the company as part of the bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

Judge John Dorsey, who is overseeing the proceedings, allowed the names of individual creditors to remain sealed for three months at a hearing in early January, but requested a list of institutions that invested in the company to be filed by FTX lawyers.

Among those listed are media companies including the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Fox Broadcasting and CoinDesk as well as big crypto firms including exchanges Coinbase (COIN) and Binance. CoinDesk isn't materially owed anything and is on the list for "technical reasons" over a podcast sponsorship signed in the fall that was never executed, a CoinDesk spokesperson said.

CoinDesk may not be alone. In a separate filing on Thursday, FTX said the list was compiled from the company's records "for the purpose of giving broad notice to, and serving documents on, as many stakeholders and potential stakeholders as possible." Names could appear for "any number of reasons."

"As a result, inclusion of a name on the Matrix does not necessarily indicate that the party is a creditor of any of the Debtors," the filing said.

American Airlines Group (AAL), Spirit Airlines (SAVE) and Southwest Airlines (LUV), as well as Stanford University – where FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's parents work as professors – and the university's credit union were also listed in the document.

The list also names Gisele Bundchen Charitable Giving as a creditor. The Brazilian supermodel and then-husband Tom Brady were famously invested in the company, even appearing in one of its Super Bowl ads.

The document doesn't show the amount each is owed, but the company had previously revealed it owed about $3.1 billion to its top 50 creditors. Of FTX’s previously estimated 1 million creditors, the two-largest single claims were for $226 million and $203 million.

Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges levied against him by U.S. regulators in New York. The collapse of FTX has damaged crypto markets and the industry's reputation. Regulators are now clamoring to set up more guardrails to protect against investor harm and risk of contagion. FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware in November.

UPDATE (Jan. 26, 15:20 UTC): Adds comment from CoinDesk in fourth paragraph.

UPDATE (Jan. 27, 09:27 UTC): Rewrites headline; adds new filing from FTX saying the document is an exhaustive list of stakeholders starting in fifth paragraph.

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CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

Sandali Handagama

Sandali Handagama is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor for policy and regulations, EMEA. She does not own any crypto.


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