Lawyers Speak on Motions Dealing With Potential conflicts
One of the attorneys defending debtors in FTX’s bankruptcy case, James Bromley, has denounced social media behaviour against his law practise that was fanned by tweets from FTX’s former chief executive officer, Sam Bankman-Fried. Bromley’s comments were made on Twitter.
At a hearing held on January 20 in the District of Delaware, attorneys discussed potential conflicts of interest between Sullivan & Cromwell, the law firm tasked with the investigation of FTX’s bankruptcy, and the cryptocurrency exchange. The attorneys spoke on motions dealing with the potential conflicts of interest.
Bromley, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, pushed back against the narrative that the law firm would be unable to act as a disinterested examiner given that it had previously provided legal services to FTX and one of its former partners, Ryne Miller, went on to become the FTX US lead counsel. Bromley was responding to the claim that the law firm would be unable to act as an impartial examiner due to the fact that it had previously provided legal services to
On January 19, former FTX Chief Regulatory Officer Daniel Friedberg filed a declaration with the court, alleging that Miller wanted to drive business to Sullivan & Cromwell, claiming that he wanted to become a partner with the firm following the conclusion of the bankruptcy case. Friedberg’s declaration alleged that Miller wanted to drive business to Sullivan & Cromwell.
Bromley argued in court that the debtors would be subject to “further assaults on Twitter” and other submissions of a similar kind if the judge were to grant an adjournment based on these claims. He said that this would likely result in the case being delayed.
Friedberg participated in the processes for the virtual bankruptcy, but since he was not physically present in court, he was not given the opportunity to speak.
The court came to the conclusion that there were no actual or prospective conflicts of interest that were serious enough to disqualify Sullivan & Cromwell from continuing to represent the debtors. ” One of the things that the debtors have been typically encountering is attack through Twitter,” said Bromley. “This is one of the things that the debtors have been normally facing in these situations.” ” It is extremely difficult, your honour, to cross examine a tweet, especially tweets that are being published by persons who are under criminal prosecution and whose movement is limited,” the attorney said.
Bromley later suggested that Friedberg and Bankman-Fried had been using social media to “throw stones” at debtors for providing information to authorities, with the declaration coming “hot on the heels of two very long and rambling tweets” from SBF. Bromley’s statement was made after Friedberg and Bankman-Fried had used social media to “throw stones” at debtors for providing information to authorities.
He also mentioned that Bankman-Fried was “immediately online” to respond to a report in which CEO John Ray had commented on FTX’s solvency and had criticised information that was intended to provide transparency for debtors. He said that Bankman-Fried was responding to the report because it was “immediately online.” “Mr. Bankman-Fried is the mastermind behind all of this, and if and when we decide to relocate this, regardless of where we decide to transfer it, I have no doubt in my mind that he will attempt to do anything to obstruct our progress in some manner.
He is hitting out at everyone.”
At the time of publishing, Bankman-Fried had not yet provided any commentary on the verdict; nevertheless, the company had retweeted rumours from other users that Sullivan & Cromwell would continue to defend FTX debtors.
