In its latest move against the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, US prosecutors seized about $700 million worth of assets owned or tied to Sam Bankman-Fried.
A court filing stated that federal authorities seized over $698 million worth of assets, with nearly 55.3 million shares of Robinhood stock seized on January 4. The shares, which were held by Emergent Fidelity Technologies, are collectively worth $526 million. SBF, in an affidavit in December, said the new company was established via funds loaned by Alameda Research. Emergent Fidelity Technologies worked towards acquiring shares in Robinhood Markets Inc worth $546.4 million. As such, FTX customer funds were utilized to plug a trading hole in Alameda’s balance sheet last summer.
The authorities seized $20.7 million held by Emergent at EDC&F Man Capital Markets Inc, and $49.9 million at Farmington State Bank. And over $100 million of FTX’s funds held in Silvergate Bank was seized between January 11 and 19. The court documents highlighted three accounts held at Binance and Binance US affiliates.
SBF’s crypto empire crashed on November 11 following a liquidity crisis – billions of dollars disappeared from FTX.