I am not sure. If I owe $8B and I raise $8B and then give it to the people whom are owed $8B, what exactly am I giving the investors? Basically he has an $8B hole and let's say everything else nets to zero (e.g. assets - liabilities = -$8B.) No one in their right mind would give $8B to get what is otherwise worth nothing. This is a non-starter, especially now that the brand is also completely tarnished.
He claims he owes $8B and has $9B in crypto/investments that is just hard to sell right now. That is, he claims assets - liabilities = 1B, but assets_that_can_be_sold_on_the_open_market_before_bankruptcy - liabilities = -8B. If that were true, then someone giving him $8B in cash for the assets, liquidating the assets for $9B (making $1B) over time and all his depositors getting their cash is good for everyone.
This isn't "invest in FTX". This is "buy everything at my going out of business sale for one transaction and make money"
Now, I don't think his assets are worth $9B. But if someone out there with the ability to raise $8B thinks so, we'll find out soon.
And you are also correct that what he likely is greatly over stating the value of the assets he is holding, which is funny money tokens like FTT, SRM, etc which he is artificially inflating.
