KEY POINTS
- The FTX debtors' estate claimed that all the assets ordered forfeited belong to the estate
- Emergent claimed proceeds of Robinhood shares sales belonged to the company
- Lawyers for a group of creditors said a huge portion of the assets belonged to 'customers'
Three separate groups have filed claims over the assets that the court demanded Sam Bankman-Fried forfeit in relation to the bankruptcy process of his collapsed cryptocurrency empire, FTX.
The FTX debtors' estate filed a claim last week to a total of six categories of assets the government seized from SBF, including two private jets, and most notably, proceeds from the sales of Robinhood shares.
In the filing, the fallen crypto giant's debtors' estate said it was "established at trial" that "all" of the Specific Property ordered forfeited to the government was vested in the debtors of FTX Digital. Furthermore, the estate argued that none of the assets SBF was ordered to forfeit belonged to him as they were "held in the name of a Debtor entity or FTX Digital, and/or was funded entirely by Debtor assets."
However, the FTX debtors' estate isn't the only one claiming the proceeds of Robinhood shares sales amounting to over $605 million. Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd., which previously held the proceeds, said in a filing that Emergent Liquidators were "appointed as the Receivers of Emergent," which makes them "bona fide purchasers for value of their right, title, or interest in the Emergent Assets." They noted that Emergent still holds the title to the Robinhood shares and proceeds from the shares' sales.
A third group, led by Sunil Kavuri, a representative of the largest FTX creditor group, asserted claims to multiple assets SBF was ordered to forfeit. Kavuri posted copies of parts of the group's legal filing, which stated that the jury found "the $8 billion Forfeited FTX Customer Assets are derived from SBF's fraud on FTX customers, not the FTX companies (now represented by the bankruptcy estate)."
1) Forfeited FTX Customer assets are derived from FTX customers Not from FTX and so is not the property of the FTX bankruptcy estate
— Sunil (FTX Creditor Champion) (@sunil_trades) June 15, 2024
2) Bankruptcy estate is dollarising at petition date unlike the MDL. MDL intend to return assets to owners: 1:1 basis pic.twitter.com/i2tg1JrSFG
The third group argued that the forfeited assets do not belong to the FTX estate and instead belong "to FTX customers." As with the other claimants, the group seeks a hearing to adjudicate their claims.
News of the claims filings came over two months after U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced the former crypto darling to 25 years in prison and ordered him to pay $11 billion in forfeiture.
The sentence was announced several months after Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven counts of fraud, criminal conspiracy, and embezzlement in relation to the collapse of FTX, which used to be one of the leading crypto exchanges in the industry.
SBF has since appealed his federal conviction.
