FTX CEO John Ray Bemoans ‘Hell-Like’ Experience at Exchange

John Ray, the new CEO of crypto exchange FTX, has said that his experiences at the firm so far, may be likened to hell. Ray took over the reins at the exchange following the implosion of FTX in November 2022. However, things have not quite been easy according to the CEO who gave a bare-it-all testimony for FTX’s case at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Monday.

Ray made further revelations about the state in which he met the FTX exchange. The CEO claims that when he took control of FTX late last year, the firm had no physical office. And on top of that, there was “not a single list of anything” from bank accounts to income or insurance. Expectedly, the administration under him effectively swung into action and began a “massive scramble for information,”  Ray says.

The FTX CEO John Ray also revealed that, at some point,  there were various security scares amid several attempts to steal crypto assets. He said:

“Those hacks went on virtually all night long […] It was really 48 hours of what I can only describe as pure hell.”

Ray also touched on the fact that he had any relationship with any of the former executives at the exchange before the takeover.  He said he had never met anyone, not Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, FTX co-founder Gary Wang, or the former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried himself.

John Ray Critical of Motion to Appoint Independent Examiner in Bankruptcy Case

Meanwhile, it might be worth mentioning that Ray’s telltale testimony follows a motion from the Office of the US Trustee arguing that the court should appoint an independent examiner. According to Juliet Sarkessian, representative of the US Trustee’s office, the independent examiner would bring transparency to the bankruptcy proceedings and is expected to issue a public report later.

Somehow, this motion does not sit well with FTX CEO. Ray says he has employed the services of professionals who are actively investigating  FTX’s past activities. And he believes that appointing an independent examiner may jeopardize the team’s efforts.  He also claims that such a move may cause accidental errors that could lead to more losses of up to “hundreds of millions of dollars in value.”

Judge John Dorsey, however, did not rule on the motion during the February 6 hearing. Instead, he asked lawyers from both ends to dialogue and come up with a “consensual resolution” regarding the issue of an independent examiner.