FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will have to forfeit $700 million if he's found guilty of fraud – and it's mainly in Robinhood stock
- Sam Bankman-Fried will have to give up roughly $700 million in assets if he's found guilty of fraud.
- US prosecutors have already seized over $500 million in Robinhood shares from him, per a court filing Friday.
Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will have to give up around $700 million worth of assets if he's found guilty of fraud, going by a court document filed by US prosecutors.
Federal prosecutors seized most of the assets listed in the Friday filing from Bankman-Fried earlier this month – including around 55 million Robinhood shares that were worth $526 million as of Friday's closing bell.
US attorneys in New York allege Bankman-Fried got the shares, cash and crypto assets illegally by using funds deposited by customers of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. They include assets held by the former FTX CEO in three accounts with rival exchange Binance.
Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges including fraud, money laundering, and violating campaign finance laws earlier in January. He's scheduled to face trial in October.
Prosecutors say he stole billions of dollars from the exchange's customers to pay off debts owed by FTX's crypto trading arm, Alameda Research. Any assets he forfeits will likely be used to pay them back.
Bankman-Fried, FTX's new bosses, failed crypto lender BlockFi and an FTX creditor in Antigua are currently locked in a separate four-way fight for ownership of the Robinhood shares.
All are laying claim to the assets held by Antigua-based holding company Emergent Fidelity Technologies — whose sole director and majority stakeholder is Bankman-Fried.
Emergent and Bankman-Fried disclosed a 7.6% stake in the trading app provider in May 2022, paying $648 million for just over 56.3 million shares, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
US authorities have seized over $170 million in dollar-denominated cash from Bankman-Fried, according to Friday's court filing.
He held just over $100 million in an account with the crypto-focused bank Silvergate Capital, as well as $50 million with Farmington State Bank and $21 million with the brokerage firm ED&F Man Capital Markets.