FTX’s Bankman-Fried to lose Robinhood’s $460m investment to U.S govt

The founder of Futures Exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, is likely to lose $460 million worth of shares owned in the exchange company, Robinhood, to U.S prosecutors.

Although there have been several claims of ownership to the 56 million shares in Robinhood, as with ties to FTX, Emergent Fidelity Technologies and Alameda Research – all of which are Bankman-Fried’s companies.

An affidavit Bankman-Fried filed in December revealed that Emergent Fidelity – owned by Bankman-Fried and his FTX co-founder, Gary Wang – borrowed $460 million from Alameda Research to acquire 8 per cent stake in Robinhood in May 2022.

The U.S government is now going after the shares, stating that the investment is not a property of the bankrupt estate. Recall that Ripples Nigeria had reported that FTX filed for bankruptcy in November last year.

Bankman-Fried filed bankruptcy after competing cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, pulled out from its bid to acquire FTX and pump capital into the firm, as it was short on liquidity.

Binance founder, Zhao Changpeng, alleged that his firm withdrew their acquisition offer due to alleged claim that FTX misused customers funds.

READ ALSO:FTX’s Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to fraud charges, gets date to file for dismissal

Following the bankruptcy filing, the U.S authorities filed eight charges against him, which included conspiracy to fraud investors, capital market and misuse of customers’ fund.

According to a report by Bitcoin.com on Friday, Bankman-Fried, who pleaded not guilty to the charges through his lawyers on Wednesday, will lose the $460 million worth of shares to government seizure.

It quoted a Justice Department attorney, Seth Shapiro, who told the court, “We believe that these assets are not property of the bankruptcy estate or that they fall within the exceptions… of bankruptcy code.”

Also, FTX lawyer, James Bromley, said, “The question as to the ownership of those Robinhood shares was an open question before the seizure took place.”

He added, “We certainly believe we have rights with respect to those assets … We are in alignment at the present time with the U.S. government and the law enforcement officials in taking these steps.”

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