Bankman-Fried, FTX Ex-CEO, and founder will lose assets worth $700M if he is found guilty of fraud during his upcoming trial. Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the US, facing multiple counts of fraud and breaking banking rules.
Bankman-Fried might lose his possessions
Sam Bankman-Fried might lose his possessions which currently stand at around $700M, a fall from over $10B if he is found guilty of eight counts of fraud. He is accused of misusing customer funds at FTX, making the exchange end up collapsing.
Allegations detail that he siphoned the money via Alameda Research, a company he had founded before FTX. The allegations are that he spent the funds on personal expenses.
Per a Friday court filing in the Southern District of New York, US Attorney Damian Williams said that 10 bank accounts, some shares, cash, and crypto holdings are among the possessions that Bankman-Fried will forfeit if he loses the trials.
The US already has its hands on Bankman-Fried’s accounts and shares
The asset pool the US prosecutors are eyeing includes highly contented 55 million Robinhood shares. These shares are priced at around $526M. They were bought via a loan from Alameda research and collateralized on another loan from BlockFi.
Bankman-Fried, BlockFi, and the FTX liquidation team have been contending to repossess them. However, the Department of Justice previously announced it had seized them. Other assets that are Bankman-Fried might forfeit over $20M held in an account under the name Emergent Fidelity Technologies.
Emergent Fidelity is a holding company that Bankman-Fried used to purchase shares. The court filing also explained that the Department of Justice was in reach of another $171M deposited under the name FTX Digital Markets in three Binance accounts. It explained that the possessions were collected between Jan.4 and Jan 19.
Elsewhere the authorities are increasing their efforts by cracking down on risky crypto exchanges. The US recently arrested Bizlato’s founder and closed down that exchange. South Korean regulators have also issued an arrest warrant for Do Kwon, ex-CEO of Terra Luna ecosystem.
Terra Luna collapsed in Mid 2022 due to shady management, and arrests have also been made. Keep watching FintechExpress for crypto regulation and other finance-related news.