Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX disbursed over $25 million to six whistleblowers who identified significant problems within the company, according to an examiner's report released on Thursday. The report, filed by examiner Robert Cleary, highlights the actions of these whistleblowers and the critical issues they exposed.

One whistleblower, identified as an executive at FTX.US, revealed that the FTX Group had "misled regulators and investors and lacked adequate corporate structure." This individual expressed their concerns in a letter to former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, former FTX engineer Nishad Singh, and former FTX lawyer Dan Friedberg. The whistleblower was subsequently reprimanded by Friedberg, who suggested that they should not have written the letter and should apologize to Bankman-Fried. This whistleblower eventually resigned in September 2022 and received a settlement exceeding $16 million.

Another whistleblower, who alleged market manipulation and insider trading, received a $1.8 million settlement after working at FTX.US for less than two months with a salary of $200,000. A third whistleblower, who also reported market manipulation and the concealment of a relationship, was offered a $200,000 settlement.

The report underscores the disorganization within FTX Group, noting that the company lacked a current and complete list of employees at the time of its bankruptcy filing. Employees often resigned informally, including through oral communications and encrypted messaging apps like Signal.

Several key employees left the company shortly before its collapse, including Brett Harrison, former President of FTX.US, who resigned in September 2022, and Sam Trabucco, former co-CEO of Alameda Research, who resigned in August 2022.

In response to the report, Harrison posted on social media site X, clarifying his departure terms: "I was not paid $16M and I didn’t enter into any 'settlement' apart from my exit agreement. Both of these facts are verifiable. I was permitted to keep a portion of my equity in the company upon leaving, and my exit agreement included standard non-disparagement and non-disclosure provisions."

The FTX collapse in November 2022 triggered a prolonged bankruptcy process. A year later, a jury in New York found Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of all seven criminal counts of defrauding FTX's customers, lenders, and investors. He was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The examiner's report, commissioned by Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey, who appointed Cleary after an appeals court ruling in January, provides a detailed account of the whistleblowers' revelations and the internal dysfunctions that plagued FTX leading up to its downfall.