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Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at davidlat@substack.com. This is a reader-supported publication; you can subscribe by clicking here. Thanks!
By next Thursday, August 16, creditors must vote on whether to approve the Chapter 11 liquidation plan of FTX, the once high-flying cryptocurrency exchange. FTX’s former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried aka SBF—the son of two Stanford law professors, who went on to become one of the world’s youngest billionaires—is behind bars. He’s in the process of appealing his convictions for fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering, as well as his 25-year prison sentence.
Ryne Miller served as general counsel of FTX US, one of several corporate entities that was part of the sprawling FTX empire. Working out of New York, he was not part of SBF’s high-living, Bahamas-based inner circle. But after a fateful phone call in November 2022 from SBF’s father, Joe Bankman, informing Ryne of a multibillion-dollar “liquidity hole”—some $8 billion to $10 billion in FTX customer deposits that had somehow gone missing—he played a crucial role in responding to the situation. By the end of that week, FTX was in bankruptcy.
Why did Ryne leave a partnership at Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the world’s leading law firms, to become the GC of FTX US? Should he have noticed certain red flags at the company, such as the lack of a board or a weak compliance function? What lessons does he draw from his time at the company? And how is he putting them to work today at his new law firm, Miller Strategic Partners, which marks its one-year anniversary next month? Ryne and I covered all this and more, in the latest edition of the Original Jurisdiction podcast.
Show Notes:
Ryne Miller bio, Miller Strategic Partners
Former FTX general counsel starts his own law firm, by MK Manoylov for The Block
Prefer reading to listening? For paid subscribers, a transcript of the entire episode appears below.
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