The bankrupt crypto exchange has started issuing “confidential messages” to its political beneficiaries, seeking to recover the money donated by Sam Bankman-Fried and other FTX officers. All recipients were asked in the letter to return all donations by February 28th, according to the press release.

FTX Wants its Political Donations Back

FTX said it would pursue legal actions against beneficiaries that fail to voluntarily return the donations and will demand interest on the payments.

“To the extent, such payments are not returned voluntarily, the FTX Debtors reserve the right to commence actions before the Bankruptcy Court to require the return of such payments, with interest accruing from the date any action is commenced,” the press release states.

According to FTX debtors’ estimate, Sam Bankman-Fried and his associates donated as much as $93 million to politicians before the company went under in November. About $40 million was reportedly donated to Democratic candidates and political action committees by Bankman-Fried himself.

Last month, CoinDesk recorded about 193 lawmakers in the United States that received donations or payments from FTX.

Donating to Charities do Not Count

While some beneficiaries have had conversations with the “U.S. Department of Justice about setting aside the money” in light of the company’s bankruptcy revelations, others planned on donating an equivalent to charities to clear the taint of FTX’s contributions.

However, FTX’s debtors said donating to charities will not prevent them from seeking recovery of the funds.

“Recipients are cautioned that making a payment or donation to a third party (including a charity) in the amount of any payment received from an FTX Contributor does not prevent the FTX Debtors from seeking recovery from the recipient or any subsequent transferee,” the release continued.

Noteworthily, the development is part of the FTX administrators’ effort to repay creditors of the exchange. Last month, FTX attorneys filed a lawsuit to claw back $446 Million in loan repayments made on behalf of Alameda Research to Voyager, a now-bankrupt crypto brokerage and lending firm.

As of January 11th, the attorney said they had recovered about $5 billion in cash and liquid crypto assets, Crypto Savings Expert reported.

~Ibiam Wayas~