FTX Group has requested that an American bankruptcy judge in the District of Delaware intervene in an international dispute involving more than $440 million in Robinhood Markets shares linked to Alameda Research.
The exchange, led by new CEO John J. Ray III, believes Robinhood’s 56 million shares, which SBF purchased, are the property of FTX and must remain locked until competing creditors’ claims are resolved.
The Robinhood shares were heavily involved in the events leading up to FTX’s collapse. They were included in a spreadsheet as some of the crypto empire’s most valuable and liquid assets as part of efforts to raise rescue funding. The Robinhood shares, on the other hand, are held in the name of an Antiguan firm that is 90% controlled by Bankman-Fried, and it is unclear whether FTX controls them.
Crypto lender BlockFi and individual creditor Yonathan Ben Shimon have claimed these shares in separate court cases in New Jersey and Antigua.
In addition, on December 11, just before his arrest, Sam Bankman-Fried attempted to seize control of Robinhood shares. He petitioned an Antigua court for control of the company that owns the stock, but his motion is still pending. According to FTX Group, Bankman-Fried may be attempting to gain control of the shares in order to help pay his legal fees.
FTX lawyers urged the bankruptcy judge presiding over their client company’s insolvency case to suspend access to the shares until the true owner of the shares is determined and the company attempts to repay all of its creditors.
According to FTX, Robinhood shares are held in an EDFM brokerage account for non-debtor firm Emergent Fidelity Technologies, which Sam Bankman-Fried owns 90% of.
SBF was released on Thursday after signing a $250 million bond. According to the bail agreement, SBF would be placed under house arrest in his parents’ Palo Alto home, and his passport would be confiscated.
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