The Charity Commission has opened an inquiry into a charity after a US cryptocurrency exchange that funded the organisation went bankrupt.
Effective Ventures Foundation UK reported FTX’s bankruptcy as a serious incident, and the regulator states there is no indication of wrongdoing by the trustees at this time.
However, the Commission is concerned about potential risks to the charity’s assets, and the inquiry was opened on 19 December 2022.
It will aim “to establish facts and help ensure the trustees protect the charity’s assets and are running the charity in line with their duties and responsibilities”.
The regulator said trustees had been cooperating fully and Howie Lempel, interim chief executive of Effective Ventures Foundation UK, said he understood the Commission’s “desire to exercise extra scrutiny, especially given the scale and profile of the FTX situation”.
He said “we will be cooperating fully” adding the trustees have assessed the financial situation and “the charity is not reliant on the FTX-related funds for its future operations”.
Lempel added: “We have kept the Commission informed of our actions throughout the process and note that the Commission has confirmed that we complied with our duties in making a serious incident report.
“We are pleased that the Commission has found our interactions thus far to be fully cooperative and we plan for that to continue.”
According to the regulator’s data for the financial year ending 30 June 2021, Effective Ventures Foundation’s total income was £18.7m.
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