A recent publication showed that many legal professionals defending the case of FTX’s bankruptcy in the ongoing lawsuit raked in a whopping $32.5 million as a service fee in February. In addition, the outrageous figures for the reimbursement fee of February seem consistent with what they made in the previous months, which scares debtors.
Law Firms Made $32M In February Working For FTX
The publication, which was released on April 10, revealed the fee statements issued to the law firms that fought FTX’s collapse in February. The total sum of the reimbursements expenses was $32.5 million. However, the cumulative fee did not include the settlement fee of $305,000 paid out to the FTX restructuring CEO John J. Ray III in February.
In addition, the CEO received similar compensation for March as he reportedly made a total of $329,173 in fees and expenses, according to the April filings.
Breaking down the expenses, the filing revealed that Ray charged a fee of $1,300 per hour as he worked for 255.9 hours between March 1st to 31st. His wages total a whopping $327,470, coupled with $1,703 expended on lodging, meals, transport, airfares, and other minor needs.
Furthermore, the Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan law firm reportedly pursued a repayment fee of about $2.7M for February. According to the publication, each legal expert that made up the firm charged between $1,245 and $1,918 per hour, while their associates sought about $747 to $1,183 hourly. The firm billed a $2.7 million settlement fee for working 2,610 hours in February.
In addition, the April filings revealed that Alvarez and Marsal law firm sought about $11.9 million for their legal services provided for FTX in February. Also, Alix Partners, a forensic investigation firm, listed their fee to be $3.6 million, according to the report.
Interestingly, Sullivan and Cromwell’s law firm accounted for the most enormous reimbursement fee sought by a legal firm in charge of FTX’s case in February. The firm reportedly charged about $13.4 million for the services rendered to FTX by its potent group of lawyers and associates. Collectively, experts from Sullivan and Cromwell reportedly expanded about 12000 hours defending FTX in February.
On the contrary, Perella Weinberg Partners recorded the lowest reimbursement fee for the FTX case in February. The firm charged billed a sum of $77,890 for February. Additionally, bankruptcy co-lawyers Landis Rath and Cobb made about $582,603 working for FTX in the same month.
FTX Pays Millions Of USD To Law Firms Every Month
According to earlier court filings, the bankrupt FTX paid a large sum of money to law firms in January as it did in February. The firms reported receiving $34.19 million for their legal engagement with the collapsed firm in January.
These monthly records of payment statements showed that FTX reels large sums in reimbursement, fees, and expenses to different law firms, financial experts, directors, and investigators, etc. who are defending its course in the ongoing lawsuit against it. The continuous expenditures raise concerns and dim the hope of customers waiting for refunds for the assets they lost when FTX collapsed.
In addition, the bankruptcy case is nowhere near its end, meaning the troubled firm would expend more funds in the coming months. In addition, reports showed that Sullivan and Cromwell’s firm alone would rake in hundreds of millions of USD before the bankruptcy case could end.
