A couple weeks ago I posted an article not he collapse of FTX and the possible implications for Mercedes. I then mentioned it on our podcast and now Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested according to United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
As I mentioned in the previous article, when something like this happens, chapter 11 is typical but part of that workout process can be regaining assets from the entity in question. In short, FTX’s assets can be sought to make investors whole again or as much as possible.
Mentioned this type of thing on our podcast and the term used typically is “clawback”. My question was, would Mercedes be entangled in the chapter 11 situation and pending lawsuit(s)?
If you go back to the big Madoff Ponzi scheme, the clawbacks were massive and today I heard Kevin Leary, a big investor in FTX, say he is thinking about a Madoff-style clawback. You can a list of the clawback action regarding Madoff here to get an idea of the scope.
@cnbc #KevinOLeary, a longtime paid #FTX spokesman, says he believes #Binance put FTX out of business. #LinkInBio for full details. #CNBC #crypto #cryptocurrency #sambankmanfried #sbf #cz ♬ original sound – cnbc
The biggest difference here is that the financial market that Madoff operated in is regulated and the crypto currency market is not so some rules may not apply as obvious as others.
However, I sense that this is far from over and if the court and investors go back for assets, it could impact Mercedes AMG Petronas. That’s if clawbacks are allowed and to be fair, the biggest payouts would be sought first. So that leaves the question of how much to FTX pay Mercedes?
If Leary is correct, the CZ (Finance) would be the biggest target for any Ch. 11 debt restructuring. But would they go after all entities who they invested in for marketing reasons? If they paid Mercedes $100M, at some point, that will be a target if clawbacks are allowed.
Lots of moving parts here and time will tell but I am still concerned that Mercedes may be entangled and I hope not. I also hope that the other teams start o scrutinize their crypto involvement such as Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren etc.
Well then there is FTX Arena which is still live https://www.ftxarena.com/ and they had their logo on MLB umpire uniforms.
I would ignore anything Kevin (O’)Leary says, he is culpable in this and has been attempting to control the narrative to divert blame.
Yeah, I’ve read that too. Although his warning of clawbacks is interesting and that kind of “get my money back” thinking can be contagious. :)