business@tribunemedia.net
TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2023
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‘FTX chief planned $256m sell-off behind our backs’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
t 3BZ BDDVTFE PWFS #BIBNBT FTX’s Bahamian liquidators QSPQFSUJFT have accused their US adversary, aided by its local law firm, of going t -JRVJEBUPST behind their backs in attempting DMBJN BJEFE CZ to sell $256m worth of real estate domiciled in this jurisdiction. MPDBM MBX mSN Brian Simms KC, the Lennox Paton senior and Pricewatert 8BSO A$BO U (PwC) accounting QSFTFSWF IVOESFET houseCoopers duo, Kevin Cambridge and Peter PG NJMMJPOT Greaves, are alleging that John
BPL’s 71% cost hike branded ‘outrageous’ t &Y NJOJTUFS A* EPO U LOPX IPX CVTJOFTTFT TVSWJWJOH t 0UIFST TBZ JNQBDU BT ACSVUBM BT AIJUT LFFQ DPNJOH t 1SJDF DPOUSPMMFE CVTJOFTTFT GPSDFE UP BCTPSC CMPX By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net PRIVATE sector executives yesterday branded the 71 percent hike in Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) total energy costs as “outrageous” and “brutal”, with one saying: “I don’t know how businesses are surviving.” Dionisio D’Aguilar, Superwash’s principal and a former Cabinet minister, told Tribune Business that the return of load shedding meant all businesses and households are paying huge sums for an inconsistent, poor quality electricity supply that frequently fries and burns out vital electrical equipment. Describing BPL’s service as “dirty power”, because the voltage is “never quite right” and fluctuates frequently, he added that his laundromat chain is “always adjusting” prices to market conditions and
Ray and his team confessed to instructing their US-based financial advisers to sell the high-end Bahamian real estate acquired by the imploded crypto exchange “for cash” without first informing them. And the Supreme Courtappointed trio also asserted that Mr Ray’s advisers were aided in this effort by the FTX US chief’s Bahamian attorneys, Peter Maynard & Company, with such activities only “causing confusion” as to who has ultimate control of
expenses and had already implemented an increase in response to soaring energy costs. Ben Albury, the Bahamas Motor Dealers Association’s (BMDA) president, and Bahamas Bus and Truck general manager, told this newspaper that industries and businesses such as his were especially impacted by the extent of BPL’s skyrocketing bills because they are unable to pass at least some of
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By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE GOVERNMENT’S bid to raise almost one-third of its near-$2.2bn gross financing needs for the 2023-2024 fiscal year from external banks is “looking very favourable”, a senior official revealed yesterday. Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial
secretary, told Tribune Business that talks to secure some $700m in external (foreign currency) debt financing from a number of unnamed banks were “very advanced” as the Government again seeks to avoid the high interest rates that will inevitably be demanded on any international bond issue. The Davis administration’s 2023-2024 borrowing plan, released quietly on
SBF’s trading arm operated in Bahamas without licence THE PRIVATE trading entity created by Sam Bankman-Fried, and alleged to have played a key role in FTX’s multibillion dollar implosion, was based and controlled in The Bahamas despite not being licensed to operate in this jurisdiction. Brian Simms KC, the Lennox Paton partner, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) accounting duo, Kevin Cambridge and Peter Greaves, revealed that Alameda Research was effectively operating in this nation illegally out of offices it shared with FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets. Referring to their limited co-operation to-date with FTX US chief, John Ray, the trio wrote in
their latest report to the Supreme Court: “On February 15, 2023, as part of the co-operation agreement and upon the request of the Chapter 11 debtors, the joint provisional liquidators facilitated access to Alameda devices for imaging by representatives of the Chapter 11 debtors. “Although not licensed to operate in the jurisdiction, Alameda operated from The Bahamas sharing the FTX Digital Markets offices. In addition to the device imaging, the joint provisional liquidators handed over paper files for Alameda stored in the FTX Digital Markets offices.” Alameda Research, established by Mr Bankman-Fried, FTX’s founder, as a private investment/ trading firm focused on the digital assets industry, is said to have been central
Supply ‘challenges’ freeze ice supplies By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Writer jsimmons@tribunemedia.net FOOD stores and gas stations yesterday blamed supplier woes for ice shortages that impacted New Providence amid searing heat over the weekend. Mr Maury, manager of Phoenix Supermarkets, told Tribune Business his store remains without ice due to “challenges” with
supply. “The ice houses are having challenges. The only people I see with ice now is some of the gas stations and Super Value,” he added. “The machines at Chilly Willy and the machines at Polar Ice, they were having challenges. The last time we called them they said the machines down.” But the gas stations, I see a lot of gas stations have ice. Solomons, Super Value, I see
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BRIAN SIMMS KC
JOHN RAY
$700m external loan goal ‘looking very favourable’
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
DIONISIO D’AGUILAR
valuable real estate assets - the FTX Digital Markets liquidators or the US chapter 11 proceedings before the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. The Bahamian liquidators alleged, in legal papers filed with the Delaware court last week, that the actions of Mr Ray’s agents represented a violation of the January 6, 2023, co-operation agreement that had been hammered out with the FTX US chief during last year’s Christmas holiday.
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Kenneths have ice. Plenty places have ice.” Mr Maury said he has experienced difficulties obtaining one-gallon bottles from suppliers as well due to a shortage in that commodity. He added: “Plenty people coming for ice, and then the problem is we can’t keep up with the water. The gallon water either, they cant keep up with.”
“Aquapure doesn’t have any bottles, [Chelsea’s] Choice doesn’t have any bottles, Echo doesn’t have any bottles. The gallon bottles, they don’t have none. They can keep up with the water but they can’t keep up with the bottles.” Rodney, a manager at Rubis on Prince Charles Drive, also confirmed the location was out of ice due
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Friday before a formal unveiling yesterday, is aiming to raise $995.9m or 45.3 percent of its total gross financing needs for the next fiscal year from external or foreign sources. Of that $995.9m, some $700m - representing 31.8 percent of the $2.199bn total - will come from commercial banks, with the remaining $295.9m provided by multilateral lenders such as the to the crypto exchange’s November 2022 collapse. After a series of speculative and risky investments failed to pay off, and Alameda’s financiers and lenders demanded their funds back, FTX client monies were allegedly used to finance these repayments. Meanwhile, the Bahamian liquidation trio have demanded “the games have to stop” as they seek the Delaware Bankruptcy Court’s approval to have all 134 FTX entities under Mr Ray’s control in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection named as defendants in their counterclaim to his original lawsuit that sought to deny them access to
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). To secure lower interest costs than prevailing market rates on the commercial bank loans, the borrowing plan signalled the Government is “pursuing” guarantees from the IDB and other multilateral institutions to help underwrite this financing.
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SAM BANKMAN-FRIED any assets caught up in the crypto exchange’s multi-billion dollar collapse. “From the onset of these cases, the FTX Digital Markets defendants have sought to expeditiously advance
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