It appears that media outlets are eager to unveil the names of non-US FTX customers.
Four major US media outlets are relentlessly pursuing the disclosure of non-US FTX customers' identities, submitting fresh objections against a prior motion to keep their identities under wraps.
Previously, on January 11th, Bloomberg, Dow Jones, The New York Times, and the Financial Times filed a motion opposing FTX and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors' authorization to censor user information.
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The May 3rd filing presents a new objection against the Committee's motion to conceal non-US customers' identities, despite the court having heard similar arguments from the four companies earlier.
The media outlets' latest argument asserts that non-US data privacy laws provide no legal grounds for redacting names. On top of that, the four companies claim that no part of Section 105 of the Bankruptcy Code, the provision granting the bankruptcy court judicial power, allows foreign law to supersede the right to access information under US constitutional and statutory law.
In the most recent filing, the media companies stated:
The law of the United States—constitutional and statutory—guarantees the public a strong presumptive right to inspect bankruptcy filings. That right cannot be abrogated by a party's assertion of legal obligations under foreign law.
Firstly media outlets argue that FTX's creditors' names do not qualify as "confidential commercial information." The second argument notes that disclosing such information would not expose the creditors to "undue risk."
FTX and the committee have until 4:00 pm Eastern Time on May 4th to file an objection. The hearing on this matter is scheduled for May 17th at 1:00 pm.
It is not the first time media outlets have challenged the order to conceal the identities of FTX users. In April, the media outlets argued that the press and the public have "a presumptive right of access to bankruptcy filings."
The ongoing battle between media giants and FTX over non-US customers' identities exemplifies the tension between privacy rights and public access to information in the age of digital finance.
In other FTX-related news, FTX is working to reclaim approximately $4 billion from the bankrupt crypto lender Genesis and a British Virgin Islands-based entity, GGC International.
