• US Federal prosecutors have confiscated around $697 million in assets belonging to Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX.
• Assets were seized from Silvergate Bank, Moonstone Bank, Binance’s global platform and Binance.US.
• Nearly $500 million worth of Robinhood shares, primarily owned by Bankman-Fried, were also seized by the Department of Justice.
US Federal Prosecutors have seized a massive amount of assets belonging to Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX. According to recent reports, nearly $697 million worth of assets have been seized from Silvergate Bank, Moonstone Bank, Binance’s global platform, and Binance.US.
The Department of Justice has also seized nearly $500 million worth of Robinhood shares, primarily owned by Bankman-Fried. The shares were purchased in May 2022 via Emergent Fidelity Technologies from money borrowed from Alameda – FTX’s investment arm. These same shares were kept as collateral for Alameda’s loan from BlockFi.
Bankman-Fried has reportedly offered to contribute nearly all of his personal shares in Robinhood to customers. However, the enforcement authorities have yet to confirm if they will accept the offer.
In addition to the assets seized from the various financial firms, the US Federal Prosecutors have also frozen funds connected to FTX. The funds have been frozen in Antigua, where FTX filed for bankruptcy in 2021. Liquidators in Antigua have also laid claims over the seized Robinhood shares.
The enforcement authorities are currently investigating the actions of Sam Bankman-Fried and other related parties. It is unclear what the outcome of the investigation will be, but for now, the seized assets remain in the hands of the US Federal Authorities.