FTX Foundation Staffer Fights for $275,000 Bonus Promised by SBF
An employee of FTX’s charitable wing recruited by FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is trying to collect $275,000, the remainder of his claimed 2022 salary bonus.
Ross Rheingans-Yoo’s lawyers argued in a Nov. 13 court filing that only $375,000 of his $650,000 bonus was paid by FTX. They claim the remaining funds were due when the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.
Rheingans-Yoo’s latest filing follows FTX’s objection filed on October 30.
Rheingans-Yoo shared part of a Google doc created by Bankman-Fried that outlined his terms of employment at the FTX Foundation, which included a base salary of $100,000. He claimed that Bankman-Fried told him in a note
Rheingans-Yoo reiterated that he was not part of Bankman-Fried’s “inner circle” and did not know that FTX had misappropriated client funds, with his lawyers adding:
“Instead, Rheingans-Yoo was a loyal employee who found himself in a mess he did not create.”
Rheingans-Yoo claims he is entitled to an additional $650,000 specifically for donating to charity, a pre-petition salary of approximately $5,700, and a post-petition salary of at least $62,800 .
Advisors say FTX has already paid Rheingans-Yoo its bonus in full because it chose to have the amount partially repaid via options in the company’s affiliates before it filed for bankruptcy.
However, Rheingans-Yoo denies this claim.
The fate of Rheingans-Yoo’s bonus will be determined by a Delaware bankruptcy judge who is overseeing FTX’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Related: FTX Files $1 Billion Lawsuit Against Bybit Over Asset Withdrawals
FTX sued the Latona Biosciences Group of Rheingans-Yoo, Bankman-Fried and several other defendants in July to return $71.6 million in investments and donations allegedly sent to various life sciences companies.
FTX looks to recover by avoiding transfers of $71.5 million from
Life Sciences, Lumen Bioscience, GreenLight Biosciences Holdings, PBC, Riboscience, Genetic Networks, 4J Therapeutics, Latona Biosciences, FTX Foundation, SBF, Ross Rheingans-Yoo and Nicholas Beckstead pic.twitter.com/T7lF3sZmzN
– Sunil (FTX Creditor Champion) (@sunil_trades) July 20, 2023
The crypto exchange claims that Rheingans-Yoo and Bankman-Fried personally benefited from the investments and donations, but FTX and Alameda Research did not.
“Each of these transfers was made with the intent to hinder, delay or defraud present or future creditors, a fact known to the FTX Foundation, Latona and Bankman-Fried.”
Rheingans-Yoo says her work at Latona, which involved analyzing potential beneficiaries, speaking with their founders and executives, and conducting due diligence, would have produced “positive results for the company.”
Review: Can You Trust Crypto Exchanges After FTX Collapse?
