FTX CEO Details Plans To Restructure Global Empire, Asks Stakeholders To 'Be Patient'

The newly appointed CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, John Ray III, is in damage control mode, assuring FTX employees, vendors, customers, regulators, and government stakeholders to "be patient" after the collapse of the company.

What Happened: In a Saturday statement, Ray said the company looks forward to selling or restructuring FTX's global empire. 

"I respectfully ask all of our employees, vendors, customers, regulators, and government stakeholders to be patient with us as we put in place the arrangements that corporate governance failures at FTX prevented us from putting in place before filing our chapter 11 cases," Ray said in the statement. 

"Based on our review over the past week, we are pleased to learn that many regulated or licensed subsidiaries of FTX, within and outside of the United States, have solvent balance sheets, responsible management, and valuable franchises," Ray added.

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Ray, who was appointed as the CEO of FTX after its founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned from the company and filed for bankruptcy, has said that it is "a priority" in the coming weeks to "explore sales, recapitalizations or other strategic transactions with respect to these subsidiaries, and others that we identify as our work continues."  

Why It Matters: On Saturday, FTX debtors filed various motions with the bankruptcy court seeking interim relief that, if granted, would allow the operation of a new global cash management system and the ordinary course payment of critical vendors and vendors at foreign subsidiaries. 

A hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 22. 

Earlier, Ray said that Bankman-Fried utilized business cash from the FTX Group to buy homes and other personal assets for staff and consultants.

"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," Ray said. 

In the court filing, Ray has requested to distance FTX's new management team from Bankman-Fried. According to Ray, Bankman-Fried continues to make "erratic and misleading" statements on Twitter and in the press.

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