Robinhood Shares Worth Nearly $500M Seized in FTX Case

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has seized more than 55 million shares of Robinhood stock owned -- via a holding company -- by Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, according to a court document. The shares were worth just over $456 million based on HOOD's closing price of $8.25 on Friday. CoinDesk reports: The stock had been held at an account at U.K.-based brokerage ED&F Man. The "seized Assets constitute property involved in violations" of crimes such as money laundering and wire fraud reads the court document. Sam Bankman-Fried was formally charged with those and other crimes on Dec. 13. The Robinhood shares were in principle owned by FTX co-founders Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang through their Emergent Fidelity Technologies holding company. FTX, now run by John Ray III, had asked a judge late last month to freeze the stock. Bankman-Fried naturally opposed the move, saying, in part, he needed the shares to help pay his legal fees. According to a report last month, Bankman-Fried borrowed over $546 million from Alameda Research to purchase a 7.6% stake of Robindhood. Meanwhile, crypto lender BlockFi, which filed for bankruptcy like FTX, claims it was owed the rights to the Robinhood shares due to a deal Bankman-Fried made in early November. "The shares were pledged as collateral against a loan taken out by Alameda Research -- the same firm whose funds were used to purchase the shares to begin with," reports CoinDesk.

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