US authorities are in the process of seizing Robinhood Markets Inc (HOOD.O) shares tied to Sam Bankman-Fried, who is accused of fraud in the collapse of FTX.
According to US attorney Seth Shapiro, who is in charge of the FTX bankruptcy, the DOJ did not think the 56 million shares of Robinhood, valued at around $465 million, belonged to a bankruptcy estate.
Shapiro said that a forfeiture procedure may be used to resolve conflicting claims to shares of the stock-trading app. Along with Bankman-Fried, liquidators in Antigua, BlockFi, a bankrupt cryptocurrency company, FTX, and liquidators have all staked claims to the Robinhood stock.
By utilizing customer deposits to maintain his Alameda Research hedge fund, prosecutors claim that Bankman-Fried committed a multi-year “fraud of epic proportions” that cost investors, clients, and lenders potentially billions of dollars.
Bankman-Fried entered a not-guilty plea to conspiracy and wire fraud charges. He admitted that FTX had poor risk management, but he insisted that he did not think he was criminally responsible.
According to an affidavit he submitted in a court in Antigua in December, Bankman-Fried used money he borrowed from Alameda Research to buy around 7.42% of Robinhood’s stock through Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd.
Gary Wang, another former FTX executive, reportedly owned 10% of Emergent, while Bankman-Fried claimed to possess 90% of the company. Wang is working with the prosecution after entering a guilty plea to fraud charges related to the FTX collapse.
Shapiro added that prosecutors have frozen U.S. bank accounts connected to FTX Digital Markets, the Bahamas-based company owned by FTX. According to court documents, accounts at Farmington State Bank, doing business as Moonstone Bank, and Silvergate Bank had around $143 million.
A representative for FTX named James Bromley informed Dorsey that none of the assets up for seizure are now under the direct control of any of the FTX entities involved in Chapter 11. It was an “open question” as to who owned the Robinhood shares, according to him, and they were the subject of litigation.
BlockFi Inc., another defunct cryptocurrency company, as well as the liquidators of Emergent, which is embroiled in insolvency proceedings in Antigua, where it is incorporated, are also claiming ownership of the Robinhood stock, which closed on Wednesday at $8.36 per share.
BlockFi is suing Emergent in an effort to take possession of the Robinhood shares that Alameda provided as security to ensure repayment of a loan made by BlockFi. Alameda and FTX both filed for bankruptcy two days after the pledge.
