The U.S. government has seized — or is in the process of seizing — hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Robinhood Markets shares as part of the fraud case against Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the failed crypto firm FTX, lawyers said in court Wednesday.
The government also is taking control of assets in bank accounts that were part of a bankruptcy case involving one unit of the FTX empire in the Bahamas, said James Bromley, a lawyer leading the main FTX insolvency proceeding in the US.
The seizures began as part of the fraud case against Bankman-Fried and other top FTX officials.
The shares, now worth more than $460 million, have been claimed by various creditors of FTX, who filed court cases to try to control of them. A court hearing will eventually be held to determine what happens to the shares and the assets seized from the bank accounts, Seth B. Shapiro, a lawyer with U.S. Department of Justice said during a court hearing held by video in Wilmington, Delaware.
Bankman-Fried was extradited from the Bahamas last month to face fraud charges in the US.
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