• Creditors in FTX's bankruptcy say Sam Bankman-Fried and his top deputies aren't playing ball.

• The parallel criminal case against SBF, Caroline Ellison, and Gary Wang may be to blame.

• Usually, cooperating witnesses share everything — but prosecutors may be holding back, experts say.

In the months since FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company and its creditors have said they're leaving no stone unturned in their search for the fallen crypto exchange's funds that disappeared.

But they told a Delaware bankruptcy court recently that they hit a roadblock, accusing Sam Bankman-Fried and those close to him of not playing ball with them.

In a January filing, they alleged that the former FTX CEO, his parents, and his deputies including Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, didn't answer questions in the bankruptcy inquiry into what happened at the crypto exchange.

FTX, which is being shepherded through the Chapter 11 process by its current CEO John Ray, has said it's looking for information from them, including about any money transfers out of the bankrupt entities and on "anything of value they received from the debtors."

A group of debtors asked the judge overseeing the bankruptcy case to allow them to file subpoenas against Ellison, Wang, Bankman-Fried, his family members, and several other "insiders" who they said weren't providing the documents and information the debtors needed.

"Certain insiders are currently cooperating with the debtors to provide important information," lawyers for the debtors wrote in the filing. "But others are not."

The criminal case takes priority

Ellison and Wang separately reached plea deals with federal prosecutors in Manhattan, copping to charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District in New York, which is bringing the criminal case, trumpeted their cooperation in a splashy announcement just as Bankman-Fried, under indictment for a spate of fraud and conspiracy charges, was extradited to the US from the Bahamas.