FTX bankruptcy fees in the vicinity of $20 million for 51 days of function
The FTX brand on a laptop display.
Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs
FTX’s leading personal bankruptcy, legal and economic advisors have billed the corporation far more than $19.6 million in fees for operate done in 2022, in accordance to Tuesday bankruptcy court filings. More than $10 million of that was for perform finished in November 2022 as Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire entered bankruptcy safety in Delaware.
The firms will at first only be paid a little above $15.5 million, or 80% of the price of their do the job, under a court-ordered interim compensation system.
The legislation firms that billed FTX are Sullivan & Cromwell, Landis Rath & Cobb, and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Qualified advisor Alvarez & Marsal and monetary advisor AlixPartners also billed the enterprise.
Some of the get the job done the corporations billed for included having conferences with other providers that also were billing FTX for their time or corresponding with previous and existing executives, which include Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund, Alameda Research.
Landis Rath & Cobb and Sullivan & Cromwell, FTX’s primary lawful corporations, billed the firm a blended $10.7 million for a lot more than 8,400 hours of do the job. Landis Rath & Cobb billed $1.16 million for work completed concerning Nov. 11 and Nov. 30.
Sullivan & Cromwell, a target for the two lawmakers and Bankman-Fried above the firm’s pre-petition get the job done with FTX, sought more than $9.5 million in payment for above 6,500 billable hours in the interval amongst Nov. 12 and Nov. 30. Roughly fifty percent of these billable hours, totaling much more than $4.8 million, ended up for the function of companions, who typically cost the greatest hourly price.
Sullivan & Cromwell assigned a lot more than two dozen partners to FTX’s situation, in accordance to the filings. Jim Bromley, a companion at Sullivan & Cromwell and a direct legal professional on the case, billed in excess of 178 hours for the months amongst Nov. 12 and Nov. 30.
The authorized filings supply a glimpse into the ferocious operate advisors have finished to untangle FTX’s sophisticated net of accounts and slipshod accounting criteria. Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers used above 1,900 hours in November on your own on operate linked to examining and recovering FTX’s worldwide asset foundation, according to the filings.
Alvarez & Marsal, an advisory firm, billed $1.9 million for above 2,300 hours of work on “business enterprise functions,” assembly with legal professionals and FTX executives, examining FTX’s holdings using blockchain explorers, and reviewing “cybersecurity eventualities.” All those operations bundled many several hours in November corresponding with and contacting Ellison, far more than 5 hrs in a single day imaging iPad data files and other electronic devices, and a very first-day listening to meeting get in touch with that lasted 2 1/2 hours.
Quinn Emanuel, which billed over $1.5 million for get the job done completed in November and December, assigned more than a dozen lawyers to the circumstance, nine of whom were companions. A person of individuals associates, Sascha Rand, billed about $13,000 for a one day’s do the job in November, corresponding and examining 1st-working day issues. An additional Quinn law firm submitted for more than $17,000 on a “non-functioning travel” working day journey commencing Nov. 21 and returning on Nov. 22.
AlixPartners, a fiscal consulting company, billed $1.1 million for perform finished above the course of a small much more than a month, from Nov. 28 to Dec. 31.
FTX’s advisors usually are not entitled to their full fees but. Below an interim compensation order, specialist advisors are paid out 80% of their filed fees, presented that no objection is filed. Full compensation for lawful and advisor charges will not come about right until a ultimate fee application is filed, each time FTX’s individual bankruptcy saga concludes.
That does not suggest that advisors will not likely get their because of, however. A 2019 Federal Reserve examine said professional and consulting service fees in the Lehman Brothers’ personal bankruptcy saga totaled additional than $2.56 billion.
Attorneys for Sullivan & Cromwell did $40,000 really worth of perform just to show up in FTX’s first individual bankruptcy listening to on Nov. 22, based mostly on court filings of several hours billed and hourly fees.
