FTX CEO John Ray blasts ‘utter lack of record keeping’
John Ray, the new CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, who oversaw the dissolution of Enron, testified before House members on Tuesday that FTX lacked corporate controls to an extent he had never witnessed.
“I’ve never seen an utter lack of record keeping,” Ray said. “Absolutely no internal controls.”
Earlier this year, FTX was valued at $32 billion. Within weeks of a customer sell-off totaling billions of dollars, the company declared bankruptcy.
![PHOTO: FTX Group CEO John J. Ray III speaks at a U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing investigating the collapse of the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX after the arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, in Washington, D.C., Dec. 13, 2022.](https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/3522285a-0fc9-4e16-b1a2-ff9a61f7ddb7/john-ray_hpEmbed_20221213-113121_3x2.jpg)
Company officials communicated invoice and expense reports over Slack, an internal messaging service, Ray said.
He said FTX employees used the accounting software QuickBooks, which is popular among small businesses.
“Nothing against QuickBooks – it’s a very nice tool,” Ray said. “Not for a multibillion-dollar company.”