The U.S. Department of Justice has seized 56 million shares of Robinhood worth $468 million owned by the FTX crypto exchange and related companies.
The arrest took place as part of a case initiated against a crypto exchange. The shares were acquired in May 2022 – former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and crypto exchange co-founder Gary Wang formed a holding company, Emergent, specifically to buy Robinhood shares.
During court hearings in December, Bankman-Fried and Wang swore under oath that they had used Alameda Research funds totaling $546 million to buy the shares. The lawyer of the crypto-exchange insisted in court that the full owner of the shares is unknown and, perhaps, it is the BlockFi company – Bankman-Fried promised to transfer the shares, and now the company is trying to get them through the court.
The Justice Department said it would file seizure reports for papers that would list the assets seized from FTX. All this is done in the interests of the court, so that during the proceedings a complete picture is formed: what of the assets of FTX and affiliated companies is at the disposal of the government.
Bankman-Fried, Wang and Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison are now facing multiple bank fraud, conspiracy and money laundering charges. The next court hearing is scheduled for January 20.
Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that the collapse of Alameda Research and FTX began long before the bankruptcy of the site.
Source: Bits
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