Financial and risk advisory firm Kroll is facing a class-action lawsuit for alleged negligent behavior over a data breach that impacted creditors of FTX, BlockFi, and Genesis.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in a US district court by Hall Attorneys on behalf of FTX customer Jacob Repko and other crypto creditors who were affected by Kroll’s data breach.
The suit claims that crypto creditors have been facing phishing attacks, a cybercrime where malicious actors try to gain sensitive information, due to a data breach that Kroll faced in August 2023, in which malicious actors managed to attain personal information of crypto creditors.
The complaint pointed out that Kroll was solely reliant on email-only outreach. Further, the suit states that the claims verification process was compromised, which led to delays and even loss of funds.
Apart from damages, the lawsuit intends to fix the communication issue that creditors have been facing due to Kroll’s single point of communication.
In a Thursday X post, Sunil Kavuri, a prominent FTX creditor, said that creditors have been getting phishing emails on a daily basis, showing he just received one recently with his name included in the scam email.
In another screenshot, Kavuri shows that he has received multiple phishing emails from Aug. 14 to Aug. 17.
Source: Sunil Kavuri
Another user replied stating that they, too, have received similar emails.
Nicholas Hall, Bankruptcy and Complex Litigation at Hall Attorneys, responded to a user telling them that eligible participants might get monetary compensation, and could cause operational changes at Kroll depending on the court ruling.
Hall also operates the FTX Claims website to help FTX creditors with their respective claims.
Earlier in March, Kroll reportedly suffered another data breach where details such as client invoicing, accounts payable, and email addresses were obtained by malicious actors.
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Third round of FTX reimbursement in September
The third round of reimbursement to FTX creditors is set to commence on Sept. 30, with the payout amounting to $1.9 billion.
The payout will likely exclude foreign creditors, which include creditors from China, Russia, and more restricted countries.
More than $5 billion was distributed in the second round of reimbursement, which was announced in May.
In February, FTX laid out its plans to distribute $1.2 billion to users whose claims were up to $50,000.
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