Bitfinex Files For Subpoena, Aiming to Recover $880M In Frozen Funds

The latest crypto news show that Bitfinex files for subpoena to a US court. The main goal for the exchange with this is to subpoena a former banking executive of a trust company which they believe can help it recover more than $850 million which are now in frozen funds.

The exchange submitted a filing on October 18 to a court in California for obtaining the permission to take the deposition testimony of Rondell “Rhon” Clyde Monroe, who is a former vice president of TCA Bancorp. They also seek to obtain documentations of Monroe’s communication with Crypto Capital staffers.

Now that Bitfinex files for subpoena, the filing shows that Crypto Capital has used one or more accounts held at TCA Bancorp to facilitate the transfer of funds that belong to itself. The exchange believes that Monroe has information and documents that are vital to their claims to over $850 million.

This filing comes as part of the ongoing proceedings for Bitfinex, where the exchange seeks to recover around $880 million of its funds held at its payment processor Crypto Capital which was said to be frozen by multiple government agencies.

Meanwhile, the exchange is also under investigation by the New York Attorney General’s Office for allegedly using a loan from its sister company Tether and covering up the frozen funds without disclosing anything to its customers.

As Bitfinex files for subpoena, the filing shows that its relationship with Crypto Capital was well until April last year. This was the time when news emerged showing that funds at Crypto Capital had been seized by authorities in Poland due to money-laundering investigations.

Bitfinex also said that in August 2018, Crypto Capital told it that more than $500 million of its funds in both Poland and Portugal were “held up” by regulators in the two countries. The exchange also added that they were pressured to provide more information concerning the frozen banking accounts. Crypto Capital provided a reference letter signed by Monroe from TCA.

After the letter showed custody of a little over $300 million of Bitfinex’s funds at TCA on behalf of a customer named Global Trade Solutions AG (GTS) doing business as “Crypto Capital” – Bitfinex files for subpoena and is applying to take deposition testimony of Monroe and documentations of his communication with the principal at Crypto Capital, Ozzie Yosef.