The FTX Foundation has filed a motion for leave to amend its complaint against HTX, Poloniex, and Justin Sun.
The amended complaint alleges that FTX-Alameda Research Foundation had approximately $27 million in funds in both HTX (then Huobi) and Poloniex at the time it declared bankruptcy.
The original version of the complaint was filed in November 2024.
What is the lawsuit about?
The amended draft complaint filed by FTX Recovery Trust names as defendants Huobi, Poloniex, Sun, and various entities that the lawsuit claims are Sun’s “alter egos.”
Alameda Research-At the time FTX declared bankruptcy, Alameda Research held funds in both Poloniex and HTX (then Huobi), which it claims were “valued at the time at approximately $27.5 million.”
Unfortunately for FTX Real Estate, “both Huobi and Poloniex had locked Alameda’s accounts, making it impossible for the debtors to recover their assets.”
Read more: On the advice of Justin Sun, HTX redeemed an undisclosed 7,300 WBTC
The Alameda Huobi Account was not opened under the company name Alameda Research, but was “nominally held in the name of a former Alameda employee.”
This account holds Approximately $22 million According to the complaint, when the criminal organization FTX-Alameda Research declared bankruptcy. Huobi has not yet handed over these assets.
Similarly, in the case of Poloniex, Alameda Research opened an account associated with Sam Bankman-Fried, which held approximately $5.5 million at the time FTX-Alameda Research declared bankruptcy.
Despite repeated follow-up investigations, Poloniex and Huobi/HTX are apparently reluctant to return these assets to the FTX-Alameda Research estate.
Read more: Coinbase to delist WBTC months after Justin Sun controversy
The complaint also notes that Sun maintained accounts for FTX through entities known as Orange Anthem and Black Anthem, among other things.
According to the amended draft complaint, Orange Anthem filed customer claim certificates against FTX Real Estate for approximately $12 million.
The complaint alleges that “Justin Sun operates Huobi, Poloniex, Orange Anthem, and his TRON network as a unified integrated company.”
Beyond the complaint, evidence of this duplication can be found in the supporting documentation entities of these exchanges. Please consider the “Poloniex OTC Trading Policy”. This policy states that “P2P merchants and services on Poloniex are Powered by Huobi”
Additionally, both exchanges’ support sites feature documents discussing the “strategic partnership” between these two exchanges.
Justin Sun’s Liquidity Strategy
After FTX suspended most withdrawals on November 8, Sun “entered into discussions with Bankman Freed regarding a limited liquidity arrangement focused solely on Sun-related digital assets.”
Sun later posted about this, claiming that it was facilitating withdrawals by providing liquidity.
The complaint alleges that Sun’s actions “clearly facilitated the breakdown of creditor equality by providing preferential treatment unavailable to others who did not hold Sun-related tokens.”
Read more: Cryptocurrency’s most shameless marketer, Justin Sun, plays the main character
The facility ended up “effectively redistributing real estate value from the general creditor community to Sun and its companies.”
The complaint further alleges that the scheme “was intended to, and did, artificially inflate the price of Sun-related tokens by inducing a surge in demand for FTX.”
What does the complaint say about Justin Sun’s identity?
The amended complaint provides us with further insight into what FTX Real Estate thinks of the current state of Sun’s corporate network.
The company named two Sun-related companies as responsible for the Huobi acquisition, specifically About Capital Management and Digital Legend.
Additionally, we provide details on how Huobi Global SA currently owns the HTX trademark in the United States.
Read more: Justin Sun’s Poloniex and HTX withdraw huge sums from AAVE
It also revealed that Polo Digital Asset, which was incorporated in the Seychelles and previously operated the Poloniex exchange, was “deleted from the Seychelles register in January 2022.”
Even though this entity has been removed from the registry It is still the entity referenced in the Poloniex Privacy Policy.
The successor organization is likely incorporated in Panama, based on Poloniex’s user agreement, which claims that “this agreement is subject to the laws of the Republic of Panama.”
Protos reached out to Poloniex for clarification on which organization currently oversees the platform, but did not receive a clear explanation prior to publication.
Read more: Justin Sun reportedly owns more TRX than everyone else combined
Similar issues exist with HTX, with the proposed amended complaint detailing how “the published Huobi service agreement references an entity called HTX Ltd., which it says is incorporated in the Seychelles.”
However, “the Trust has not been able to identify any company incorporated in its name in the Seychelles corporate register.”
The complaint also notes that Orange Anthem, the entity that held funds in FTX at the time of the bankruptcy, “is part of Sun’s TRON network,” noting that the company registered its FTX account via email “(email protected),” and further notes that its knowledge of customer documents “identified Sun as Orange Anthem’s sole director and shareholder.”
Furthermore, Orange Anthem is linked to Black Anthem because “when FTX requested proof of Orange Anthem’s assets, Tron representatives… responded with screenshots that reflected assets nominally held by Black Anthem, not Orange Anthem.”
Black Anthem’s account has been registered to the email account “(email protected)”.
Read more: How involved is Justin Sun in WBTC’s new custodian, BiT Global?
When this proof of assets was challenged by FTX employees, “Tron representatives…explicitly denied any distinction between the entities” and suggested that Black Anthem “has Sun Yuchen as its director, which is completely consistent with Orange Anthem’s director Sun Yuchen. They are the same person.”
According to the amended complaint, when an FTX employee suggested that this did not prove that Orange Anthem owned the assets, a Tron representative said, “Yes, Mr. Sun Yucheng is the sole director of Black Anthem, which is the same as Orange Anthem.”
This was an obvious attempt to suggest that Sun’s control of these beings meant their existence. assets were exchangeable.
As previously stated, Sun is a fan of author Ayn Rand; national anthem Ayn Rand’s book.
What happened before this amended complaint?
The first adversary lawsuit was filed in November 2024.
This initial complaint named Hbit LTD. and other defendants, but was later removed in February 2025.
In April 2025, Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case, and a related hearing was held on December 8, 2025.
As a result, the original charges were dismissed.
Then, on January 7, the FTX Foundation filed a motion for a stay to amend the complaint.
