Bitfinex Attempting to Recover $880 Million
- Bitfinex applied to subpoena a former banking executive of TCA Bancorp, who is believed to have documents of his communication with Crypto Capital.
- The exchange says that Crypto Capital “used one or more accounts held at TCA Bancorp to facilitate the transfer of funds”.
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Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and its parent company iFinex have filed a discovery application in the Southern California district court in an attempt to recover $880 million in funds.
On 18 October iFinex applied to subpoena a former banking executive of TCA Bancorp, Rondell “Rhon” Clyde Monroe, believing that he has information that could help them to their claims to over $850 million.
Allegedly Crypto Capital “used one or more accounts held at TCA Bancorp to facilitate the transfer of funds”, and that Monroe has documents of his communication with Crypto Capital.
The request comes as part of Bitfinex’s ongoing proceedings to recover $880 million of funds held at its payment processor Crypto Capital, which are purportedly held in bank accounts in Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the U.S..
At the same time, Bitfinex continues to be under investigation by the N.Y. Attorney General’s Office for allegedly using funds from its sister company Tether to cover up the lost funds.
In the supporting declaration by the exchange’s chief financial officer, Giancarlo Devasini, it is explained that a man involved with Crypto Capital, Ravid Yosef, provided him with documents that revealed that the firm did not keep the funds, but transferred them between multiple banks in Europe and the U.S..
Devasini claims that iFinex could trace the funds, and establish the exchange’s claim to ownership.
The declaration reads:
“In order to demonstrate iFinex’s ownership of, and entitlement to, the various funds held in Poland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom, iFinex must be able to trace the funds deposited by its customers through the fund transfers between and among the various banking accounts operated by Crypto Capital.”
Ravid Yosef and Reginald Fowler were indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice in April for running a shadow bank, that processed hundreds of millions of dollars of unregulated transactions on behalf of numerous cryptocurrency exchanges.
- The exchange targets small and medium-cap companies, offering access to innovative financial products.
- Bitfinex launched the platform in a regulatory sandbox environment in Kazakhstan.
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- After settling with the Office of the New York Attorney General, Bitfinex and Tether were ordered to introduce transparency measures.
- Alongside a hefty fine, the companies will have to ensure the OAG that their corporate and client accounts remain segregated.
- The addition asserts Bitfinex’s intentions of expanding into the crypto-derivatives market.
- The inclusion of the new crypto derivatives contracts comes after last month’s listing of Europe 50 and Germany 30 perpetual swaps, offering exposure to established equity markets.