Former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried (C) arrives to plead before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in federal court in Manhattan, New York January 3, 2023.
Ed Jones | AFP | Getty Images
Federal prosecutors seized over $697 million in cash and assets related to Sam Bankman-Fried, court filings from the Friday show, mostly in the form of Robinhood stock owned by the FTX founder.
John Ray, who replaced Bankman-Fried as CEO to lead FTX’s restructuring, is trying to salvage funds lost by the crypto company’s depositors when the company went bankrupt in November. Bankman-Fried was arrested in December on criminal fraud charges and is being released on $250 million bail while awaiting trial.
The 55 million+ shares of Robinhood are at the center of a contentious multi-party battle between Caribbean litigants, representatives from bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi, Bankman-Fried himself and the bankruptcy leadership of FTX.
Federal prosecutors have alleged that Robinhood stock was purchased with allegedly stolen customer funds. In May, Bankman-Fried announced that he had acquired a 7.6% stake in Robinhood, saying at the time, “We think it’s an attractive investment.”
Bankman-Fried has denied misappropriation of client funds.
Three of the seized accounts were held at Silvergate Bank in the name of FTX Digital Markets and held over $6 million. These assets, held on behalf of a Bahamian subsidiary, were taken over by the government “on or about” January 11. Silvergate recently announced that customer deposits plummeted nearly 70% in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Nearly $50 million was held in custody at Moonstone Bank, a US financial institution with ties to FTX management, court filings show.
Federal prosecutors have not disclosed the value of funds or assets held in one Binance account and two Binance.US account numbers. These three Binance accounts were the only assets seized that had no value attached.
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