John Pintarelli Speculates on Fate of FTX’s $256 Million in Real Estate

Those real estate holdings, which are owned by an FTX subsidiary called FTX Property Holdings, LLC, are a central part of the bankruptcy case against the crypto exchange as creditors seek to recover billions from the business. According to Business Insider, those real estate holdings represent some of the most tangible assets that can be liquidated and redistributed to creditors. In all, former FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried purchased 35 properties in the Bahamas, including property in a luxury resort community called Albany. FTX had also planned to build a new headquarters on the island.

While a key question is whether the Bahamas should have jurisdiction over the liquidation of those assets, Pintarelli said that venue may not be the most important aspect of the case. Presumably, he said, regulators and judges in the U.S. and the Bahamas would work to secure the biggest possible payout for creditors. But, he added, that total payout could change if regulators in one country or the other wait too long to liquidate the assets. 

“No one wants to be sitting on ‘the melting ice cube’ as we call it,” Pintarelli concluded. “If real estate values are going down, you want to sell the properties as fast as you can to recover as much as possible for the creditors.”