Several mainstream media outlets have filed a collective motion in court with the intent of revealing FTX’s customers and creditors. The motion was filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court on behalf of various media outlets, including Bloomberg, Dow Jones, The New York Times, and The Financial Times (collectively referred to as Media Intervenors).
The motion argues that the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings of FTX are of “significant and legitimate concern given FTX s leading role in cryptocurrency” and have questioned the transparency of the debtors (FTX). The filing questioned the “extraordinary step of seeking to keep under seal their list of creditors” and highlighted that documents of such nature are “with very few exceptions, historically open to the public.”
The Media Intervenors seek to intervene in these proceedings to vindicate the public’s right to access the sealed and redacted judicial documents filed with the Court in this matter. The group argued that the news media acts as the eyes and ears of the public and that “this valuable social function is hampered by sealing of judicial records.”
FTX’s attorneys have cited two reasons for their request to have the customer and creditor lists sealed. They have claimed that their “customer list, and related customer data, is an important and valuable asset of the Debtors and the Debtors maintain their customer list in strict confidence.” They also claim that “Public dissemination of the Debtors’ customer list could give the Debtors’ competitors an unfair advantage to contact and poach those customers and would interfere with the Debtors’ ability to sell their assets and maximize value for their estates at the appropriate time.”
If unsealed, FTX customers’ identities would become public records in the United States.
The hearing where the motion’s validity will be determined will be held tomorrow on December 16th, 2022.
Shout out to @molly0xFFF, whose tweet first broke this story.
