• FTX and trading firm Alameda Research will pay $12.7 billion to creditors after the approval of a consent order by a New York judge, ending a lawsuit from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
• The order bans FTX and Alameda from trading digital assets and acting as intermediaries in the market, but does not include civil penalties.

Defunct crypto exchange FTX and trading firm Alameda Research will pay $12.7 billion to creditors as a New York judge officially approved a consent order on Wednesday, ending a 20-month-long lawsuit from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

United States District Judge Peter Castel passed the approval on August 7, a filing shows . It did not seek a civil monetary penalty.

The order doesn't include civil penalties but bans FTX and its sister concern, Alameda, formerly a heavyweight crypto market maker, from trading digital assets and acting as intermediaries in the market.

FTX filed for bankruptcy in late 2022 destroying billions of dollars in investor wealth. Subsequently, the CFTC filed a lawsuit against FTX and Alameda, claiming both committed fraud and misrepresentations by publicizing FTX as the digital commodity asset platform.

Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded both companies, was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion in March. He was earlier convicted of seven counts of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.

(Omkar Godbole contributed reporting.)