According to the museum, the agreement was reached through negotiations conducted in good faith and at arm’s length with FTX’s creditors.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, located in New York, has announced its plan to refund $550,000 in donations that it received from FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange that collapsed in November, to FTX’s creditors through a filing to the United States Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on June 2, which is the same court where FTX initiated its bankruptcy proceedings.
“The Met wishes to return the Donations to the FTX Debtors, and the FTX Debtors and the Met have engaged in good faith, arm’s length negotiations concerning the return of the Donations.”
West Realm Shires Services, the company that ran FTX.US, facilitated the transfer of the $550,000 donation to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was paid in two separate installments of $300,000 in March 2022 and $250,000 in May of the same year.
Since filing for bankruptcy in Delaware in November, FTX management has been attempting to reclaim its donations from politicians and other groups, having distributed $93 million in donations from March 2020 to November 2022, as per court records.
Data from Unusual Whales shows that out of approximately 180 US politicians who received funds from FTX, only 19 have returned their donations or indicated their willingness to do so.
Market Watch data reveals that “Protect our Future PAC” was the primary beneficiary of FTX’s donations, receiving approximately $27 million.
