A former employee of FTX's charitable division, who was recruited by FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, is pursuing a claim for the remainder of a purported 2022 salary bonus totaling $275,000.
Ross Rheingans-Yoo's legal representatives filed court documents on November 13, contending that only $375,000 of the $650,000 bonus was disbursed by FTX. According to their claim, the outstanding balance was owed when the cryptocurrency exchange entered bankruptcy proceedings in November 2022.
This recent filing by Rheingans-Yoo is in response to an objection raised by FTX on October 30. As part of his case, Rheingans-Yoo disclosed a segment of a Google document authored by Bankman-Fried, outlining the terms of his employment with the FTX Foundation, which included a base salary of $100,000. He alleged that Bankman-Fried communicated to him through the memo.
Rheingans-Yoo emphasized that he was not part of Bankman-Fried's "inner circle" and was unaware of any misappropriation of client funds by FTX. His lawyer added that Rheingans-Yoo was a loyal employee caught in a situation not of his creation.
Claiming entitlement to an additional $650,000 designated for charity purposes, Rheingans-Yoo cited a pre-petition salary of around $5,700 and a post-petition salary of at least $62,800. Advisers for FTX countered by asserting that Rheingans-Yoo's bonus was fully paid because he opted to reimburse part of it through options at the company's affiliates prior to the bankruptcy filing.
Rheingans-Yoo denied this assertion. The resolution of Rheingans-Yoo's bonus claim rests with the Delaware bankruptcy judge overseeing FTX's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. In July, FTX filed a lawsuit against Rheingans-Yoo's Latona Biosciences Group, Bankman-Fried, and several others, seeking the return of $71.6 million in investments and donations allegedly sent to multiple life sciences companies. The exchange alleged that Rheingans-Yoo and Bankman-Fried personally benefited from these transactions, which they contend were intended to obstruct or deceive creditors. In contrast, Rheingans-Yoo maintains that his work at Latona, focusing on assessing potential beneficiaries and conducting due diligence, will have positive societal outcomes.
