FTX CEO John Ray lll was paid $1,575 per hour last month as bankruptcy trudges on

Quick Take

  • FTX CEO John Ray III, who is overseeing the exchange’s bankruptcy, made $363,825 last month, according to a court filing. 
  • Ray’s work over the past month included providing direction on AI-company Anthropic and reviewing documents.

FTX CEO John J. Ray lll was paid $1,575 an hour last month for his work in overseeing the exchange's bankruptcy, according to a court document filed on Thursday.

From March 1 to March 31, Ray worked 231 hours and was paid a total of $363,825. Ray's work included weekly phone calls and in-person board meetings to manage bankruptcy restructuring efforts, as well as leading weekly calls and meetings, according to a monthly staffing report.

"Additionally, Mr. Ray has worked to establish and maintain internal controls, address and manage employees and employee concerns, interacted with management in Japan, Europe and other locations throughout the world and managed cash, other assets and investments, data and systems related issues with respect to all Debtors," the filing read. "Mr. Ray also provided oversight related to the Debtors’ public relations and communications plans."

FTX collapsed in November 2022 and owes customers over $8 billion.

Ray, who years ago helped clean up Enron's corporate collapse, had previously alluded to the FTX bankruptcy being worse than Enron. In filings following FTX's downfall, Ray said he had never seen "such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here."

Notably, Ray is the only professional staffed by Owl Hill, his advisory firm, which was once known as Greylock Partners, to work on behalf of the debtors.

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Work on Anthropic

Ray's work over the past month included providing direction on AI-company Anthropic and reviewing documents, for which $4,252.50 was charged. Ray also reviewed draft complaints, claim statuses, and matters in Japan among a list of tasks.

FTX is selling two-thirds of its stake in Anthropic for $884 million, according to court documents last week. 

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced just last week to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of seven criminal counts, including two counts each of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as well as several counts of conspiracy to commit securities and commodities fraud, among other criminal acts.


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About Author

Sarah is a reporter at The Block covering policy, regulation and legal happenings. Before, Sarah was a reporter with CQ Legal writing about securities regulation, which is where she first started reporting on crypto. Sarah has also written for The Bond Buyer and American Banker, among other finance-related publications. She graduated from the University of Missouri and earned a degree in print and digital journalism. Sarah is based in Washington D.C., and is an avid coffee lover. You can follow her on Twitter @ForTheWynn.

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