FTX Foundation employee fights $275K bonus promised by SBF.
An employee of FTX's philanthropic wing, hired by FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, is seeking a $275,000 payout, the remainder of his 2022 salary bonus.
Attorneys for Ross Rheingans-U argued in a Nov. 13 court filing that $375,000 of the $650,000 bonus was paid by FTX. They say the rest of the funds are owed when the crypto exchange files for bankruptcy in November 2022.
Rheingans-Yo's latest filing comes in response to FTX's October 30 objection.
Rheingans-Yo shared a Google document created by Bahnmann-Fried that laid out his employment contract at the FTX Foundation, which comes with a base salary of $100,000. He said Bankman-Fried told him in a memo.
Rheingans-Yo was not part of Bankman-Fried's “inner circle” and had no knowledge that FTX had misappropriated client funds, the attorneys added:
“Instead, Raingans-Yo was a loyal employee who found himself in trouble he didn't cause.”
Rheingans-U said he was entitled to an additional $650,000 to donate specifically to charity, including an upfront salary of $5,700 and a minimum salary of $62,800 after the hearing.
Advisers say FTX has already paid Rheingans-Yo the full bonus because he chose to have part of the award paid by the company's corporate affiliates before filing for bankruptcy.
However, Rheingans-Yo denied the claim.
The fate of the Rheingans-Yo bonus will be determined by the Delaware bankruptcy judge presiding over FTX's Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Related: FTX files billion-dollar lawsuit against Bitcoin over asset extraction
FTX sued Rheingans-Yo's Latona Biosciences Group, Bankman-Fried and several other defendants in July to return $71.6 million in investments and contributions to various life sciences companies.
FTX seeks to recover by avoiding $71.5m in transfers
Life Sciences, Lumen Bioscience, GreenLight Biosciences Holdings, PBC, Riboscience, Genetic Networks, 4J Therapeutics, Latona Biosciences, FTX Foundation, SBF, Ross Rheingans-Yo and Nicholas Beckstead pic.twitter.com/T7lF3sZmzN
— Sunil (@sunil_trades) July 20, 2023
The crypto exchange says Rheingans-Yo and Bankman-Fried personally benefited from the investment and donations, but FTX and Alameda Research did not.
“Each of the transfers was made with the intent to frustrate, delay or defraud existing or prospective creditors, a fact known to FTX Foundation, Latona and Bankman-Fried.”
Raingans-Yo says his work at Latona, which includes analyzing receivers, talking to their founders and executives and conducting due diligence, “has a positive impact on society.”
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