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FTX Employees Look To Covington Law Firm For Upcoming Probes

By  |  January 16, 2023

Several FTX employees have turned to law firm Covington & Burling to help them deal with questions from US authorities investigating the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange and actions by its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Related: FTX Collapse Creates ‘Sense Of Urgency’ Among World’s Regulators

Arlo Devlin-Brown, a New York-based Covington partner and former Manhattan federal prosecutor, is acting as so-called pool counsel representing current FTX employees as individuals being asked to share information with prosecutors and regulators, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Companies facing wide-ranging investigations often hire pool counsel for employees. The use of pool counsel suggests that federal prosecutors in Manhattan probing FTX’s collapse may be interested in questioning a deep roster of employees.

Bankman-Fried, 30, was arrested in December on charges of stealing customer funds to plug losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research, and lying to investors and lenders.