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FTX asks court to keep US$450 mln Robinhood shares frozen
Failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd. has asked a bankruptcy court to keep US$450 million worth of Robinhood shares frozen, as three parties battle for the true ownership of the assets.
NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 22: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Manhattan Federal Court after his arraignment and bail hearings on December 22, 2022 in New York City. Bankman-Fried, who was indicted on December 9th and arrested 3 days later by Bahamas law enforcement at the request of U.S. prosecutors, consented to extradition to the U.S. where he is facing eight criminal counts of fraud, conspiracy and money-laundering offenses which includes making illegal political contributions. He is potentially facing life in prison if convicted. He was released on $250 million bond with the bail package requiring him to stay with his parents in California. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
Failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd. has asked a bankruptcy court to keep US$450 million worth of Robinhood shares frozen, as three parties battle for the true ownership of the assets.
FTX lawyers said in a Thursday court filing that about 56 million shares of trading app Robinhood in dispute are owned by Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd., former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried’s holding company in Antigua and Barbuda.
Three parties, bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi, FTX creditor Yonathan Ben Shimon and Bankman-Fried, have filed court actions in attempts to gain control of the shares.
The assets are currently frozen in a brokerage account at ED&F Man Capital Markets Inc. in New York City, according to the filing.
Bankman-Fried made his first appearance in a Manhattan court on Thursday and was released on a US$250 million bail package, which prosecutor Nicolas Roos called the “largest ever pretrial bond.”
At FTX’s first bankruptcy hearing last month, an attorney for the company said it was run as a “personal fiefdom” of Bankman-Fried and that a “substantial amount of assets” has either been stolen or gone missing.
