FTX Takes Legal Action Against Anthony Scaramucci and SkyBridge Capital

In a surprising legal move, FTX has filed a lawsuit against Anthony Scaramucci and his investment firm, SkyBridge Capital. This comes as FTX works to recover funds

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has filed a lawsuit against Anthony Scaramucci and his investment firm, SkyBridge Capital, in an attempt to recover over $100 million from investments made by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. The investments include funding for several SkyBridge funds and a large sponsorship for Scaramucci's SALT conference.

According to the lawsuit, Scaramucci allegedly saw Bankman-Fried as an easy spender, willing to invest significant sums with minimal scrutiny. The lawsuit also claims that Scaramucci and his partner, Brett Messing, sold off Bitcoin and Solana tokens acquired through an FTX investment without proper clearance.

FTX argues that this sale, which reportedly benefited SkyBridge, made no financial sense for FTX. Now, with those tokens worth more than $120 million, FTX is seeking to reclaim those funds.

In total, FTX wants to recover $12 million from the SALT sponsorship, $55 million from two other investments in SkyBridge entities, and additional damages related to the alleged unauthorized token sales. The suit also seeks to block a $45 million bankruptcy claim from SkyBridge, arguing that this amount was already paid to them as part of Bankman-Fried's investments.

The lawsuit is part of FTX's effort to address financial damage and secure assets as it navigates through bankruptcy. After its massive collapse in 2022, which left customers facing billions in losses, FTX has been working to recover funds and return them to creditors.

FTX has also filed a separate lawsuit against Nawaaz Mohammad Meerun, accusing him of carrying out a series of large-scale exploits on their platform. Among these, the lawsuit highlights manipulations involving less liquid coins like BTMX and MobileCoin, claiming Meerun raked in over a billion dollars through these schemes.

FTX’s lawsuit paints a picture of Meerun as someone with deep ties to organized crime networks across Poland, Romania, and Ukraine, along with links to money laundering operations and Ponzi schemes that go back over a decade. It also alleges connections to extremist networks involved in financing illegal activities, adding to the severity of the claims.

Interestingly, even after FTX’s collapse, Meerun didn't slow down. The lawsuit claims he continued his exploits under the alias “Humpy the Whale,” reportedly launching a governance attack on a cryptocurrency lending platform, specifically Compound, in June 2024.

Meerun’s tactics, according to the lawsuit, included using several accounts with quirky, food-related aliases like "motherofallburgers@protonmail.com" and "donerkebabveryspicy@int.pl" to manipulate prices on tokens like BTMX, MOB, BAO, TOMO, SXP, and KNC. This pattern of alleged activity showcases his continued involvement in crypto manipulations.

The lawsuit aims to recover hundreds of millions of dollars that, according to FTX, Meerun improperly took from the platform, violating its terms of service. FTX also seeks to reclaim nearly $30 million in transfers made just before bankruptcy and to block two bankruptcy claims filed by Meerun, totaling over $13 million.

In a surprising twist, the lawsuit reveals that Meerun—despite allegedly siphoning millions—filed a $13 million bankruptcy claim for funds still on the platform. The claim, the lawsuit states, was filed openly with his name, address, and verified identity documents. FTX pointedly comments that Meerun was “apparently not satisfied” with his substantial pre-bankruptcy gains.