FTX Used Account Containing the Word 'Korea' to Conceal Alameda Debt

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Cryptocurrency exchange FTX reportedly used accounts containing the word 'Korea' to conceal the massive debt of its subsidiary Alameda Research, which became the epicenter of its bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported on the 14th (local time).

Bloomberg reviewed related documents and reported that a GitHub account under the name of Nishad Singh, former engineering director of FTX, included the term 'BD expense account' along with 'Korea KYC'.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

GitHub is a programming code repository used by companies and software developers to store and share code. Later, Bloomberg added that this account was linked to a 'Korea expenses' account.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) stated in a lawsuit filed the previous day against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX, and Alameda Research that FTX hid Alameda's debt of $8 billion (approximately 10.4 trillion KRW) in FTX customer accounts to make it difficult to distinguish.

The CFTC alleged that Bankman-Fried referred to this account as "our Korean friend's account" and instructed its creation to conceal Alameda's rapidly increasing debt. Bloomberg explained that the so-called 'Korea account' enjoyed privileges exempting it from the application of FTX risk management policies, similar to Alameda's main and sub-accounts.

However, specific details about this 'Korean friend' or the 'Korea account' have not been disclosed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.