You can't paint it with such a broad brush. Employment laws are very fact specific and differ state to state. California was pretty sure Uber drivers were contractors, they brought an action, and the courts found against them. You really can't say unless you drill into a number of hairy specifics.

Not to mention, FTX was in the Bahamas and Alemada Research was based in Hong Kong, so people working there may not even be covered by US employment law.

This claim is the IRS to making up the biggest plausible number it can and then using that to review the facts and make a case to the bankruptcy judge.