Yahoo Finance FTX creditors' identities will remain under wraps, unlike names of equity holders like Tom Brady, Peter Thiel
A bankruptcy judge is allowing the identities of FTX creditors to remain sealed for at least three more months.
"We're talking about individuals here who are not present – individuals who may be at risk if their name and information is disclosed."
By contrast, the names of top FTX equity holders were revealed in a filing earlier this week.
A judge in the FTX bankruptcy case said Wednesday that the names of creditors will remain under seal for at least three more months.
Judge John Dorsey of Delaware cautioned that he is "reluctant at this point to say I'm going to require the disclosure," despite growing calls from both media outlets and the US government to reveal the names of key creditors.
"We're talking about individuals here who are not present – individuals who may be at risk if their name and information is disclosed," he said.
Lawyers for FTX argued in November that the list of creditors may be unreliable due to a lack of record keeping by Sam Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives, and that revealing the identities could further devalue the firm by allowing competitors to take advantage of the information.
But Dorsey has thus far remained steadfast in his effort to keep the names under wraps, despite criticism that keeping the names sealed breaks with typical norms in bankruptcy proceedings, such as with crypto lender Celsius Network last year.
Meanwhile, the treatment of FTX's creditors contrasts with how its equity holders have been treated.
On Monday, FTX released a list of its top investors, detailing just how many they were set to be wiped out from the downfall of the crypto exchange.
The document showed NFL legend Tom Brady, who was a brand ambassador for FTX and appeared in a commercial for the company, owned just over 1.1 million common shares of FTX. Meanwhile, Gisele Bündchen, Brady's ex-wife, owns just under 700,000 common shares of FTX.
Other top equity holders include New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary, and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Thiel.
An LLC dubbed 2021-015 Investments, which is associated with Thiel, was listed as owning 245,000 Class A Common shares of West Realm Shire, the company that controls FTX's US exchange.
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