17 November 2022

New CEO of FTX condemns ‘complete failure’ of corporate control

17 November 2022

The new chief executive of collapsed cryptocurrency trading firm FTX says said he has never seen such a “complete failure” of corporate control.

John Ray III, in a filing with the US bankruptcy court for the district of Delaware, said there was a “complete absence of trustworthy financial information”.

“Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here,” he said.

“From compromised systems integrity and faulty regulatory oversight abroad, to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented.”

Mr Ray, who oversaw Enron’s bankruptcy, was named chief executive of FTX less than a week ago when the company filed for bankruptcy protection and its CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned.

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