Federal officials confiscated approximately $700 million worth of assets belonging to disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, including three accounts with US dollars at Silvergate Bank.
Federal prosecutors seized approximately $525 million worth of Robinhood stock, $94.5 million in cash from an account at Silvergate Bank, more than $7 million from other Silvergate accounts, and about $50 million from an account at Moonstone Bank, according to a court filing Friday.
Federal prosecutors confiscate Sam Bankman-Fried’s assets!
As reported, the US Department of Justice announced earlier this month that 56 million shares of Robinhood were confiscated. The shares are owned by Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, through a holding company called Emergent Fidelity Technologies, and were purchased on a loan from his own hedge fund Alameda Research.
The shares have been the subject of dispute between several parties, with a total of four entities claiming the shares. Bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi, an FTX creditor, the new management of FTX trying to reclaim funds for investors and customers of the bankrupt platform, and the US government wanted to dominate the stock.
Sam Bankman-Fried himself had claims on the shares. In a filing, SBF’s lawyers argued that the shares belonged to a holding that was not related to FTX. They also said that the disgraced crypto boss needed the money to cover his legal expenses.
$101.5 million of the seized assets were also held in Silvergate Bank accounts on behalf of FTX Digital Markets, a Bahamian subsidiary. The crypto bank said earlier this month that these assets were taken over by the government on or about January 11.
Silvergate also revealed that after the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, it was subject to a bank run that forced the company to sell its assets at a substantial loss to honor its $8.1 billion client draw. The crypto bank lost $718 million on the sale.
Additionally, DOJ seized approximately $50 million from an FTX Digital Markets account at Moonstone Bank, a digital bank associated with FTX administration. Just yesterday, the bank announced that it is exiting the crypto space and will refocus on its “community bank” role, citing recent developments in the industry.
Finally, the DOJ confiscated an undisclosed amount of assets held in one Binance account and two Binance.US account numbers.
US prosecutors charged SBF with eight counts, including telegram fraud and conspiracy misuse of client funds. The crypto boss pleaded not guilty of all charges.
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