Four media outlets in the United States have continued efforts to get the identities of non-U.S. FTX customers revealed, filing new objections to a previous motion to seal their identities.ย
Bloomberg, Dow Jones, The New York Times and The Financial Times first filed a motion objecting to FTX and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors being authorized to redact and withhold customer information on Jan 11.
While the court previously had heard similar arguments by the four firms, the May 3 filing made a new objection to the Committee’s motion to seal the identities of non-U.S. customers.
The media outlet’s most recent argument is that there is no legal basis to redact the names pursuant to non-U.S. data privacy laws.
The media giants argued that under section 105 of the Bankruptcy Code โ the provision which grants the bankruptcy court judicial power โ there is no part that permits foreign law to override the right of access to information under U.S. constitutional and statutory law:
โAt bottom, Movants desire to avoid โenforcement of the public disclosure requirements of U.S. bankruptcy law […] furnishes no basis for sealing.โ
โThe law of the United States — constitutional and statutory — guarantees the public a strong presumptive right to inspect bankruptcy filings. That right cannot be abrogated by a partyโs assertion of legal obligations under foreign law,โ the media firms added.
The first argument raised โ which was claimed in an earlier filing โ was that the names of FTXโs creditors do not constitute โconfidential commercial information.โ
The second โ also raised in an earlier filing โ is that such disclosure wouldnโt subject the creditors to โundue risk.โ
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FTX and the Committee have until May 4 at 4:00pm Eastern Time (ET) to submit an objection.
The hearing date for the filing will take place on May 17 at 1:00pm (ET).
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