The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) has formed the FTX Task Force to "trace and recover" lost customer funds, as well as to handle investigations and prosecutions related to the collapse of the exchange.
The announcement came in a statement from US Attorney Damian Williams, who is the federal prosecutor in the FTX case involving founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
The Manhattan district attorney's office charges against Bankman-Fried include securities and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, money laundering and violation of campaign finance laws.
“The Southern District of New York is working around the clock to respond to the FTX implosion,” Williams said in the statement, adding:
"It's a hands-on moment."
“We are launching the SDNY FTX Task Force to ensure this urgent work continues, powered by all of SDNY's resources and expertise until justice is served.”
According to the SDNY, the task force team consists of senior prosecutors from its securities and commodities fraud, public corruption, money laundering and transnational crime business units, who will be responsible for the "investigation and prosecution of matters related to with the collapse of FTX".
In the meantime, its "cyber asset forfeiture and capabilities" will be used to "trace and recover" the billions of dollars in lost customer funds, it added.
A similar effort had has already been underway by FTX's new management, which hired financial advisory firm AlixPartners in December to conduct an "asset crawl" for FTX's missing digital assets.
Related: Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to all charges in federal court
The Manhattan US Attorney's Office reportedly he first started his research of FTX's collapse shortly after the company filed for bankruptcy on November 11.
According to its website, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York is known for prosecuting cases involving violations of federal laws and investigates a wide range of criminal conduct "even when the conduct arises in distant locations."
FTX and key executives including Bankman-Fried, co-founder Gary Wang and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison had been operating since September 2021 from the Bahamas, where many of the alleged crimes are believed to have taken place.
On January 3, Bankman-Fried pleaded “not guilty” to eight criminal charges related to the FTX implosion, which carries a total of 115 years in prison for the FTX founder if convicted.
Last month, Wang and Ellison pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges related to his role in the collapse of the FTX exchange.
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