Four traditional media houses Bloomberg, Dow Jones, The New York Times, and Financial Times
Media firms make their arguments
In a May 3 court filing, the media houses argued that FTX’s effort to establish that the names of its customers constituted confidential commercial information was based on speculations that rival firms might try to lure them away.
According to the media firms, such conjecture should not overcome the public’s presumptive right of access to bankruptcy filings.
The media houses further argued that FTX failed to demonstrate how releasing its customer information would subject them to scams, identity theft, personal attack, and online victimization.
According to the filing, crypto owners are like everyone else scammers can target. It added:
“If being targeted by phishing emails and other fraud vectors were enough to justify sealing individuals’ names, then virtually every individual party to a bankruptcy proceeding could litigate anonymously.”
To further bolster their point, the media houses wrote that the release of the bankrupt Celsius customer’s information did not subject them to the claims raised by FTX. Instead, these customers duly informed the appropriate authorities when they received phishing emails and other scam attempts.
They added that Court records showed that no single Celsius customer named in the litigation had fallen victim to theft — either of their identities or crypto assets.
The media outlet’s further argued that there was no legal basis to redact the names under foreign laws. They wrote:
“The 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 party’s assertion of legal obligations under foreign law, including a party’s desire to avoid paying fines to which it might be subject under foreign law.”
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