FTX Lawyers Slam 3AC’s $1.5B Claim — Say Collapse Was Entirely Self-Inflicted

FTX lawyers are pushing back against a $1.5 billion claim from defunct hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), calling it baseless and rooted in the firm’s own trading missteps.

Key Takeaways:

• FTX is seeking to fully reject 3AC’s $1.5B claim, calling it legally and factually unfounded.
• The exchange argues 3AC breached margin terms and ignored warnings before a necessary $82M liquidation.
• FTX says 3AC is shifting blame to recover losses from its own failed trading, at the expense of other creditors.

In a recent court filing, lawyers representing FTX argued that 3AC’s request to recover funds from the bankrupt exchange’s estate should be “disallowed in its entirety.”

The objection follows a November 2024 ruling by a Delaware bankruptcy judge permitting 3AC to increase its claim from $120 million to $1.5 billion, citing new evidence related to asset liquidations.

3AC claims that FTX liquidated roughly $1.5 billion in its assets just weeks before the hedge fund itself collapsed.

However, FTX attorneys dismissed the claim as resting on “an unreasonable and unsupportable starting premise,” citing “inaccurate figures” and a “blindness to the actual events.”

The filing points to a June 2022 breach of margin requirements by 3AC following the fallout from Terra’s collapse.

According to the objection, when 3AC’s account fell below the required $240 million balance, the firm failed to respond for over six hours. Instead of meeting the shortfall, it allegedly withdrew $18 million in ETH.

FTX then moved to liquidate the account, recovering $82 million. The lawyers argue this move not only complied with credit and margin agreements but also protected the estate from further losses.

FTX lawyers say 3AC’s $1.5 billion claim 'defies logic' and should be tossed

-Lawyers for the FTX bankruptcy estate have objected to a $1.53 billion claim from collapsed trading firm Three Arrows Capital, urging the court to dismiss 3AC’s claim in full.

-The lawyers say 3AC’s… https://t.co/YCMn4AwEs6

Without the liquidation, they claim, 3AC’s account would have been $18 million underwater by the time FTX filed for bankruptcy.

“Forced liquidation was not only permitted but necessary,” wrote Steven Coverick of Alvarez & Marsal, who conducted a forensic review of the transactions.

His findings were submitted alongside the objection. British Virgin Islands King’s Counsel Stephen Atherton also weighed in, dismissing 3AC’s legal arguments under BVI law as flawed.

FTX’s team maintains that 3AC is attempting to recoup losses from its own aggressive trading by targeting the exchange’s creditor pool.

“FTX creditors should not and cannot serve as a backstop for 3AC’s failed trading strategy,” the filing states.

3AC has until July 11 to respond, with a non-evidentiary hearing scheduled for August 12.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is now projected to be released from federal prison on December 14, 2044, after serving less than 21 years of his 25-year sentence for fraud tied to the FTX collapse.

He was also fined over $11 billion. Federal records confirm that Bankman-Fried has been moved from New York to a transfer facility in Oklahoma following nearly two years behind bars.

The move comes after Bankman-Fried was reportedly placed in solitary confinement earlier this month for giving an unauthorized interview to Tucker Carlson.

His incarceration began in August 2023, after Judge Lewis Kaplan revoked his bail due to allegations of witness tampering involving leaked diary entries from former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, who was a key witness in the case.

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