Chapter legal professionals, advisers billed FTX for $30 million in Feburary

What’s $30 million to an organization that owes its clients billions?

Bankrupt crypto change FTX racked up greater than $30 million in month-to-month charges from legal professionals and advisers in February, in accordance with new compensation experiences filed in chapter courtroom.

The enterprise of chapter is pricey. Attorneys, monetary advisers, funding bankers and consultants billed FTX roughly $29.7 million for compensation and one other $407,000 in reimbursement prices throughout the shortest month of the 12 months.

FTX racked up authorized payments from a half-dozen corporations in February. The change used the legislation corporations Sullivan & Cromwell and Landis Rath & Cobb, administration consulting agency AlixPartners, monetary providers firm Perella Weinberg Companions, consulting agency Alvarez & Marsal North America and FTX CEO John Ray III’s Owl Hill Advisory.

Total, the six corporations logged greater than 35,400 hours of labor in February, in accordance with their disclosures.

Authorized charges are a significant value for bankrupt firms. Enron, the power big that Ray steered by way of chapter, paid legal professionals $700 million over the course of its unraveling, for instance. FTX’s $30 million February tab is barely smaller than its January invoice. Attorneys and advisers charged the crypto change $38 million in January, courtroom paperwork present.

It is difficult

Sullivan & Cromwell had the biggest February invoice, charging FTX $13.5 million for 12,127 hours of labor. The agency listed one other $82,000 in bills.

“The providers carried out by S&C throughout the payment interval signify probably the most difficult, multi-disciplinary workouts by any legislation agency in any space of legislation,” Sullivan & Cromwell wrote in its February compensation report, which was filed on Tuesday.

The legislation agency stated it investigated the scope and nature of buyer entitlements within the chapter case, collected and arranged company data and responded to legislation enforcement investigating former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and different executives, amongst different actions. Sullivan & Cromwell legal professionals even appeared in different crypto chapter instances, together with Voyager Digital and Celsius Networks, to signify FTX.

Sullivan & Cromwell companions cost as a lot as $2,165 per hour, whereas particular counsel, associates and paralegals have decrease hourly charges. Brian Glueckstein, a Sullivan & Cromwell accomplice, billed FTX for $526,200 for his work in February.

Extra payments

Not far behind, Alvarez and Marsal billed FTX $12 million for 17,000 hours of labor and listed $229,000 in bills.

Landis Rath and Cobb, which logged 874 hours of labor, billed FTX for $583,000 in compensation and $11,000 in reimbursements. Perella Weinberg charged the change its $450,000 month-to-month payment, together with $78,000 in bills. And AlixPartners charged FTX $3 million for 3,796 hours of labor, together with $5,000 in bills.

Ray billed FTX $308,000 in charges and bills. He logged almost 240 hours of labor in February.