The Metropolitan Museum of Art will return the $550,000 (£442,000) donation from the now bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange and crypto hedge fund FTX. The donations were gifted in 2022 in two lump sums when the company was helmed by its former CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who is known for his commitment to ‘effective altruism’ that emphasises rigorous research and evidence-based approaches in supporting philanthropic causes.
The company gave the New York institution $300,000 in March 2022 and a further $250,000 in November.
The platform, now with a new CEO, has been attempting to claw back some of the many donations made by Bankman-Fried in order to return at least some of the money lost by creditors.
Prosecutors allege that former trader transferred at least $4 billion from FTX to a separate company without disclosing it publicly, the money is said to include customer funds. He was arrested on 12 December last year and, if convicted of all eight charges against him, including charges of fraud, illegal campaign contributions, foreign bribery and conspiracy, he faces a maximum 115 year sentence.
In a statement, the Met said it engaged with FTX Debtors with good faith. So far $6.2 million is believed to have been recovered from other nonprofits and political campaigns.
