US prosecutors to seize $460 million in Robinhood shares from SBF

US Department of Justice (DOJ) counsel Seth Shapiro said at the Delaware bankruptcy court hearing that the DOJ does not consider the stock part of the company’s assets in the context of the forfeiture proceeding.

Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX, and the company’s co-founder, Gary Wang, created a holding company in May 2022 called Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd. The goal was to buy 56 million shares of Robinhood with $546 million in loans from Alameda Research.

Failed crypto lender BlockFi, FTX lender Yonatan Ben Shimon and Bankman-Fried have filed lawsuits to gain control of the shares. In late December, lawyers for FTX requested that the claims remain frozen as legal proceedings continue.

On December 13, FTX’s new CEO, John Jay Ray III, told Congress that the crypto exchange had lost $8 billion in customer deposits and that Bankman-Fried and select company executives had access to customer funds.

Bankman-Fried was released on bail and faces charges of bank and wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy, and he could spend a long time in prison.

Gary Wang and Carolyn Ellison (former head of Alameda Research) accepted plea deals and reduced sentences, saying they were aware of some of the crimes committed.