A document posted on Sam Bankman-Fried’s X account claims the defunct FTX crypto exchange was never insolvent and that its lawyers’ decision to place it into bankruptcy cost investors $66 billion.
The document, which says it was written by Bankman-Fried and his team, argues that the exchange faced only a temporary liquidity crunch that was “on track to be resolved by the end of the month” before outside counsel intervened. It accuses Sullivan & Cromwell and former FTX executives of coordinating to seize control of the company.
The document states that lawyers were “heavily incentivized” to push FTX into bankruptcy so they could oversee its assets, a move it says derailed recovery efforts. It added that customers could have been repaid “in full, in kind,” with $111 billion left for investors if the exchange had continued operating.
“The lawyers then quickly launched a campaign to blame Bankman-Fried for the bankruptcy they caused,” the document said. “FTX was never bankrupt, even when its lawyers placed it into bankruptcy.”
[SBF says:]
This is where the money went. https://t.co/HVRwEw5Z1k https://t.co/5DrA13L5YE https://t.co/O6q77DvmTn
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) October 31, 2025
Document Alleges Lawyers Acted Against Bankman-Fried's Interests
Bankman-Fried and his team alleged that Sullivan & Cromwell teamed up with Ryne Miller, who was the general counsel of FTX and a former partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, as well as FTX US Derivatives CEO Zach Dexter, to “wrest control of FTX.”
One of Sullivan & Cromwell’s attorneys, John J. Ray III, then placed FTX and Alameda “into an omnibus Delaware bankruptcy,” according to the document.
“Once FTX became a Debtors’ estate that they controlled, the lawyers could pay themselves, at their own discretion, out of FTX’s billions of dollars,” they said.
After taking control of FTX, Sullivan & Cromwell “initiated the prosecution against Sam Bankman-Fried, going behind his back,” even while he was still a client of the law firm, the document added.
FTX Was Profitable When Shut Down, Document Claims
The document claims that when Sullivan & Cromwell’s attorney shut down FTX, the exchange was making $3 million per day and $1 billion per year.
During the liquidity crisis at the time, Bankman-Fried and his team stated that FTX had also found deals representing $6-8 billion worth of liquidity that was “backed by its equity on short notice.”
Despite that, the lawyers still deemed FTX a “worthless ‘dumpster fire’” and shut it down immediately, the document says.
That decision, the team asserts, accounts for “roughly $66 billion of lost value for investors under today’s market conditions.”
Bankman-Fried and the team also noted that the exchange held $7 billion worth of FTX’s native FTT token, which they calculated would be worth an estimated $22 billion today.
Sullivan & Cromwell sold FTX’s holdings in Sui for just under $100 million, a stake that today is worth $2.9 billion, the team said. FTX’s investment in Anthropic was sold for a $0.9 billion profit and is worth $14.3 billion now, it added.
The external legal counsel sold stakes in Solana and Robinhood, which would now be worth several billions of dollars each, the document added.