One of the biggest FTX bankruptcy claim holders, Attestor Capital, has sued one of the creditor firms who promised to sell the firm two FTX accounts, only to back out when their claims skyrocketed.
FTX’s collapse forced Attestor to make an agreement with a Panamanian company called Lemma Technologies to buy the accounts for $166 million. A court document filed in New York on Jan. 29 says Attestor made that deal with Svalbard Holdings Limited. In June 2023, Attestor placed the highest bid at an auction organized by Lemma Technologies in May 2023 to buy the accounts.
FTX claims holders file suit
When Junho Bang, Lemma Technologies’ president and majority owner, transferred the rights to both of his personal accounts to his company on Jan. 18, 2023, Lemma Technologies became FTX’s creditor. As per Attestor’s documents, Lemma Technologies doesn’t have any assets except Bang’s transferred claims.
After making a deal to sell its claims to Attestor for approximately $58 million, Attestor says Lemma and its South Korean owners changed their minds. According to Attestor’s complaint, Lemma “began to assert that complications had risen” regarding its authority to sell the claims, and that Bang could be “exposed to liability to his business associates” if the accounts were transferred to Attestor.
Attestor says Lemma Technologies began to try to renegotiate the agreed-upon purchase price. Proof of the company’s “seller’s remorse.”
Lemma Technologies’ claims were bought by Attestor for 35% more than the average price paid to claim holders, according to Claims Market. FTX claims steadily rose in the months following the agreement, as they worked on due diligence reaching 68% by the end of 2023. FTX claims are being bid on average at 92% according to reports.
Juhno Bang’s legal battles
With investors’ confidence that they’ll get their money back after the bankruptcy process, the value of FTX claims has also increased. In January, lawyers for the defunct exchange said they expected to be able to pay back customers in full, thanks to Bitcoin’s rising value.
Lemma hasn’t publicly responded to Attestor’s lawsuit.
There’s more legal battles Bang is facing than just the suit against Lemma.
Korean authorities arrested Bang and two other executives connected to Haru Invest, a South Korean crypto yield platform, in February after accusing them of embezzling 1.1 trillion won, about $828 million, from customers. It is unclear whether Bang remains in custody, as per reports.
