The bankrupt cryptocurrency company FTX is suing a former aide to Hillary Clinton and his investment firm to recover $700 million in investments allegedly made with misappropriated funds. According to court filings, disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried—who—authorized the transfer of large sums to Michael Kives and his firm K5 Global. FTX alleges the investments to K5 filled the pockets of Kives and fellow execs without any benefit to the crypto exchange or its customers.
Bankman-Fried, who called Kives “the most connected person I’ve ever met,” apparently wanted to leverage the ex-aide’s celebrity connections, the complaint states. In a statement, a K5 spokesperson toldthe firm “was under the impression—like many others—that SBF was completely legitimate, and that they were entering into a fair, long-term, and mutually beneficial business relationship.