Why This Prestigious University Is Returning Donated Funds From FTX

In a recent development, one of the US most prestigious universities, Stanford, has agreed to return all donated funds from the defunct crypto exchange FTX following a lawsuit to recover them. 

Why Stanford Is Returning FTX Donations

According to an emailed statement cited by Bloomberg, the university spokesperson stated that they had been in discussions with the attorneys for the FTX debtors, and they had decided to return the funds in their “entirety” following this.

FTX Foundation and its related entities had apparently donated gifts to the university “largely” for pandemic-related prevention and research, the spokesperson mentioned in the statement. 

This development comes after the university was mentioned in a recent filing by FTX in which the company alleged that SBF’s parents “pushed for tens of millions of dollars” in donations, of which Stanford University was one of the recipients. 

Specifically, FTX further alleged that SBF’s father, Allan Joseph Bankman, “directed more than $5.5 million in FTX Group donations” to Stanford University between November 2021 and May 2022. 

SBF’s parents, Allan Bankman and Barbara Fried did all this to boost their “professional and social status” but at the expense of the FTX Group and its customers. Bankman and Fried are long-time professors at Stanford Law School. As such, it makes sense why the University will be one of the beneficiaries of their alleged acts. 

However, it would seem that the University doesn’t want to be involved in what is likely to be a prolonged legal battle. SBF’s parents have also denied these allegations and termed these allegations as “completely false” in response to the crypto exchange’s lawsuit against them. They also seemed to tag it as a ploy, as it was coming just days before their son’s trial began. 

A Small Part Of The Exchange’s Recovery Efforts

FTX’s lawsuit against SBF’s parents in a bid to recover funds from them and institutions like Stanford form a small part of the company’s recovery efforts as it moves to settle its creditors and possibly restart. 

A recent court filing revealed that the company has been able to recover $7 billion so far, with over 3.4 billion being in crypto assets. The company has so far gone after debtors like Genesis and charitable donations that Sam Bankman-Fried may have made to specific organizations.

More recently, the defunct crypto exchange sued certain personalities and companies in a bid to recover promotional payments made to them. These celebrities include Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, sportspersons including Trevor Lawrence and Naomi Osaka, and the professional basketball team Golden State Warriors.