A Fake Bankruptcy For The Books
FTX’s “John Jay Ray III” is a fake bankruptcy lawyer. He is not a real person. You were taken for yet another ride on the Stupid Bullshit Freight (SBF) train of nonsense. There is a “John Jay College of Criminal Justice” in New York City, but the man who, “helped lead an associate team in representing Enron CEO Kenneth Lay’s post-conviction appellate proceedings” is named John H. Ray, III. There are several John J. Ray’s who practice law in America, including apparently another Enron-related attorney. But that guy hasn’t been handling the legal duties as far as we can tell. The lawyer handling the actual bankruptcy for FTX is Adam G. Landis from Landis Rath & Cobb LLP. Why has nobody contacted him?
(302) 467-4400 landis@lrclaw.com would be places to start.
Either John J. Ray III of Enron fame is involved in this case – or he isn’t. Or he was a fabricated entity back then. A creation of John H. Ray III or somebody else. But something is definitely off.
John H. Ray III is the first named partner in his law firm, where he also “litigated significant issues representing plaintiffs before the federal courts in Ponzi scheme class action litigation, including in the Bernard Madoff.” In other words, the real John H. Ray III fights against fraudsters. He doesn’t defend them. I think the irony peaks when you read that, “He has represented whistle-blowers in corporate securities fraud, Sarbanes-Oxley, transfer pricing, and government False Claims Act cases.”
How We Got Here…
Somewhere between 2001 when Wikipedia was first created, and today, this website became a universal source for journalism. Back in the day you were not supposed to trust this as your primary source for anything. With respect to things that have happened in history, Wikipedia has became an acceptable source because of how many other sources which can confirm historical data. But for breaking news or people that have yet to enter the public space, Wikipedia is more often used to commit frauds.
If you “View history” you’ll see that “Mr. John J. Ray III” page was created November 15, 2022. For one of the most important legal cases in American history, you might find that strange. A link in the bottom which are sources cited to validate this page lead to an obituary for “John J. Ray Jr.” from Massachusetts. The Wikipedia page claims John J. Ray III’s wife’s name is Florence, and mentions no children. John H. Ray III is married to Rikki, and has (2) sons and (1) daughter.
Showing just how little diligence our press does, CoinDesk fully reports the guy’s name as, “John Jay Ray III.” They call him a “Titan” and a “veteran Wall Street bankruptcy lawyer,” too. The FTX fake bankruptcy filing even has the name “John J. Ray III” on it. To make matters as insulting as possible, the first actual words of the filing are, “I, John J. Ray III, hereby declare under penalty of perjury…” which is funny if you’re realizing it isn’t actually anybody named John J. Ray III writing this.
Brass Tacks
Luckily I’ve never declared bankruptcy before, so I’m not intimately familiar with the process. However I do understand that very little of it requires actually having to attend court in front of a judge. So long as the case is advertised to creditors in the counties where it is believed that they are, it’s difficult to figure out who exactly would figure it out. You might think that’s impossible. But you didn’t see FTX imploding.
Furthermore, the real John H. Ray III is admitted to practice in Illinois, Massachussetts, and New York.
But not Delaware. The real John H. Ray III, the guy who was involved on the periphery of Enron’s problematic decline (but not the bankruptcy per say), is not admitted to practice law in Delaware. His name isn’t on the filing, so that’s not his problem. However, somebody is forging paperwork in Delaware.
Why Would Anybody Do This?
A fake bankruptcy is helpful if you are trying to evade your real creditors, which is what FTX is doing.
The bankruptcy paperwork is filed correctly, the content reveals some things that are true or that were not known before, and it appears to be scathing against Bankman-Fried. There is confusion about what involvement Bankman-Fried has in the company right now, because of his publishing on Twitter.com for example, which is also mentioned in the bankruptcy filing. Bankman-Fried’s parents are capable of creating this kind of paperwork, and fabricating the likeness of a legendary attorney on the case.
There are other shadowy power players involved in this situation than the press will ever find.
A fake bankruptcy is a brilliant distraction for a media that doesn’t know how to think for itself. They will be falling over themselves down every rabbit hole presented by Bankman-Fried because too many people are still under his spell. At this point, why even listen to what he’s saying? You don’t need to listen to anything else from him. He’s said it all at this point, that is, if you know how to track frauds like this.
Hopefully the real Mr. Ray III can find this information, and bring to justice those who would sully his name and reputation. Also, it seems like fake bankruptcy tech founders (like Elon Musk) enjoy messing with the Delaware court system. But everybody gets enamored by this idea that if a company is incorporated in Delaware then somehow or another it’s a black hole, case closed, end of story.
A Word To The Not-So Wise
Learn how to dig a little deeper, folks. I don’t want to hear about how newsrooms are overworked or understaffed or anything. It takes no money to fact-check a man’s name and reputation. Everybody rushed to get the story out but they all just ran the same stuff. From the moment this popped off.
Hopefully, this knowledge finally helps some people slow down, and get down to the reality.
