The IRS Wants $44B From Bankrupt FTX. How Is That Possible? - Ep. 491

News emerged this week that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) placed $44 billion in claims on the FTX bankruptcy estate. Now creditors of the defunct crypto exchange are worried that the taxman is going to gobble up funds that would otherwise be used to make users partially whole. Wassielawyer, a lawyer specializing in restructuring and insolvency, joins the show to explain what’s going on, how that huge number is even possible, and why the so-called “trust argument” is not going to be the silver bullet that some FTX customers are dreaming of. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights: whether the numbers of the IRS claim are even correct how these claims may affect all customers and unsecured creditors of FTX whether FTX CEO John Ray will fight the claims  what the trust argument is and how it could potentially save (or not) FTX’s creditors in what currency the investments made by creditors would be returned why the Three Arrows Capital case differs from FTX and Mt. Gox why what FTX allegedly did is similar, but different, from what Celsius or Voyager did Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com Railgun DAO  Stader Labs Guest Wassielawyer, a lawyer specializing in restructuring and insolvency Previous appearances on Unchained:  Did the Bahamian Government Direct SBF and Gary Wang to Hack Why the Messy 3AC, Celsius, and Voyager Bankruptcies Will Drag on for Years  Three Crypto Bankruptcies: 3AC, Celsius and Voyager. What Happens Now? Links CoinDesk: U.S. Internal Revenue Service Files Claims Worth $44 Billion Against FTX Bankruptcy MeatTC’s Twitter thread Wassie’s Twitter thread Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices