The legal teams and consulting firms that are currently assisting FTX with navigating its bankruptcy have billed the exchange approximately $103 million for services rendered throughout the first fiscal quarter of the year.
According to court filings, the following five firms billed FTX $36.4 million for the month of March:
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Alvarez & Marshal
- AlixPartners
- Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
- Landis Rath & Cobb
The filings show that the invoices for the month of March were just slightly higher than those for January and February, which totaled $34.2 million and $32.5 million, respectively.
Sullivan & Cromwell, a law firm based in New York, received the largest payment after billing FTX $14.1 million for fees and expenses for the month of March, adding to Q1’s total of $44.4 million. Sullivan & Cromwell partners earned $2,165 hourly, while the firm’s paralegals and legal analysts earned $425 and $595, respectively.
Alvarez & Marsal, a consulting firm, invoiced FTX for just over $13.8 million worth of services in March, collecting payment for the thousands of hours dedicated to avoidance actions, analysis, and accounting. The March statement represents the third consecutive bill for more than $10 million from the firm, which also acted as a restructuring advisor to the exchange after it filed for bankruptcy.
The remaining two law firms – Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Landis Rath & Cobb – respectively charged FTX $3.19 million and $644,000 for service rendered during the month of March, bringing their respective totals to $7.3 million and $1.9 million for Q1.
Due to the fact that Landis Rath & Cobb acts as special counsel to FTX, the firm has dedicated the vast majority of its hours to attending hearings and undergoing procedures pertaining to litigation.
Nearly two-hundred lawyers from the firms of Sullivan & Cromwell, Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, and Landis Rath & Cobb are assigned to the FTX case.
AlixPartners, a forensics consulting firm billed FTX a total of $4.51 million in March, resulting in total billing of $10.2 million over Q1 for the company’s services.
Despite major problems, FTX has yet to completely close down. After $7.3 billion in assets were recovered by the exchange’s legal team, the company is considering a platform reboot, with a possible relaunch taking place as soon as next April.