Bankrupt Crypto Exchange FTX Slams Three Arrows Capital’s $1.53B Claim: “3AC Is Owed Nothing”

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has said it should not have to pay a massive $1.53 billion recovery claim by Three Arrows Capital, arguing in a recent court filing that the crypto hedge fund’s “own risky [trading] strategy caused its collapse, and its own account activity — not any action by [FTX] — resulted in a significant decline in the “value” associated with the 3AC Accounts in June 2022.”

“3AC bet big that cryptocurrency prices would increase using cash it did not have and, when prices instead plummeted, 3AC proceeded to liquidate the risky bets it had placed and withdraw assets from [FTX],” FTX’s lawyers wrote in the filing.

The Delaware court overseeing FTX’s bankruptcy gave 3AC’s liquidators permission to expand their claim earlier this year, bumping it up significantly from their original claim of $120 million. This came after 3AC’s lawyers allegedly discovered new evidence suggesting that FTX had liquidated $1.53 billion of 3AC’s assets two weeks before the hedge fund started its own liquidation proceedings in June 2022. FTX’s lawyers say the liquidation of 3AC’s assets on its platform was carried out to satisfy a loan to FTX — but 3AC’s lawyers pushed back, arguing that the loan to FTX wasn’t sufficiently documented or otherwise substantiated. The bankruptcy court sided with 3AC, finding insufficient evidence to support FTX’s claim of a loan.

In the most recent filing, lawyers for FTX’s estate said that on June 12, 2022 the actual value of assets in 3AC’s accounts was only $284 million — $1.017 billion in digital assets and negative $733 million in US dollars. They also added that the “first and only” liquidation of 3AC’s assets ordered by FTX was on June 14, 2022, and swapped $82 million in crypto for cash — a move they argued “actually benefitted 3AC (not FTX).”

“The Joint Liquidators grossly inflate the actual $284 million value of assets associated with the 3AC Accounts on June 12, 2022 by more than $1.2 billion, and they ignore that the entire loss in account value resulted from market price declines and 3AC’s own withdrawals, not any action taken by FTX,” the bankrupt exchange’s lawyers wrote.

“The Joint Liquidators ask this Court to force other Exchange customers and creditors to foot the bill for 3AC’s failed strategy by asserting illogical and baseless claims for $1.53 billion…

[T]his is a false premise that lacks any legal or factual merit, and, in fact, 3AC is owed nothing,” the lawyers added.

FTX, which was at one time one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, filed for bankruptcy protection shortly after its collapse in November 2022. The exchange’s recovery trust started distributing $5 billion to FTX creditors in May.

3AC collapsed in June 2022, one month after the collapse of the Terra/LUNA ecosystem, starting a domino-like collapse of major crypto companies including Voyager, Celsius, BlockFi and Genesis.

3AC has until July 11 to file an objection before the hearing set for August 12.