The criminal investigation into the stolen assets, launched by the Justice Department, is separate from the fraud case against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the report added.
A spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said it could not confirm or comment on the matter, while the DoJ and FTX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
FTX filed for bankruptcy protection in the US last month and Bankman-Fried stepped down as chief executive, after traders withdrew billions of dollars from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance walked out of the deal rescue.
The US Justice Department accused Bankman-Fried of causing billions of dollars in FTX-related losses, which a US prosecutor called a “fraud of epic proportions”.
Bankman-Fried founded FTX in 2019 and took advantage of a boom in the values of bitcoin and other digital assets to become a multi-billionaire and influential contributor to US political campaigns.
FTX’s collapse has fueled fears about the future of the cryptocurrency industry after the beleaguered exchange experienced a “major liquidity crisis”.
