As the saga behind Sam Bankman-Fried continues, the United States government moves forward with a successful attempt to seize more than 700 hundred million dollars from his personal accounts, including Silvergate, his Robinhood shares, and a litany of other global bank accounts.
In addition, the DOJ also went ahead and seized nearly $50 million from Moonstone Bank, which had connections to the FTX management. Assets were also recovered from Binance’s global platform and Binance.US, the global exchange’s American arm. The prosecutors were able to seize three accounts belonging to SBF. However, the amount confiscated was not revealed by the authorities.
What Other Assets Did Bankman-Fried Have?
The report also states that Sam Bankman-Fried primarily owned the 55 million Robinhood shares. The Department of Justice seized the shares worth nearly $500 million at the beginning of the year. BlockFi, FTX bankruptcy head, and liquidators in Antigua have all laid claims over the shares. So who owns what, and who will be getting what?
As per the court filings submitted last Friday, January 20, US federal prosecutor Damian Williams noted that the “government respectfully gives notice that the property is subject to forfeiture”. This covers a long list of assets, including shares, fiat, and crypto.
The filing notes that between January 4 and January 19, most of the assets have been seized by the government. Furthermore, the US prosecutors are also laying claims to “all monies and assets” that belong to three different Binance accounts.
How Much Was Tied Up in Robinhood?
The bulk of the value in the seized assets comes from the stack of Robinhood(NASDAQ: HOOD) shares purchased by SBF by allegedly using the stolen FTX customers’ funds. Earlier this month, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) already announced the seizure of $465 million worth of HOOD stock.
The US prosecutors have seized a total of 55.3 million shares of Robinhood, with its current worth of around $526 million. These stocks are currently held by Emergent Fidelity Technologies, a shell company created by Bankman-Fried along with his FTX co-founder Gary Wang.
In his December affidavit, SBF wrote that he and Wang formed the new company using the funds loaned by FTX’s sister company Alameda Research. The duo had also used FTX’s customer funds to plug a traditional hole in Alameda’s balance sheet last summer.
Other Funds Seized from Bankman-Fried
Apart from Robinhood, other funds seized include $20.7 million held by Emergent at ED&F Man Capital Markets, Inc. Besides, there’s another $49.9 million at Farmington State Bank, held by FTX Digital Markets. Last week, authorities also seized FTX’s funds held at Silvergate Bank. The recent court filing lists three accounts held at rival crypto exchange Binance along with its Binance US affiliate. However, the value of the assets in these accounts isn’t specified.
Last week, the FTX restructuring team led by new company CEO John J. Ray III noted that they have separately recovered more than $5 billion worth of company assets in liquid investments.
As per the latest development, FTX’s new CEO is planning to reboot the exchange once again. The news drew optimism in the market, with the native FTT token surging.
What do you guys think? Will we see a comeback of FTX without the once-spirited guidance of Sam BankmanFried and friends? And will this set the precedent for all other crypto companies to come? Meaning if you misbehave, the government will come in and essentially replace you.
