Interestingly, the estate of FTX debtors is currently fighting claims by certain parties regarding ownership of assets confiscated by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) following the former FTX CEO’s criminal conviction for fraud and money laundering silver. In a petition submitted Friday, the debtors’ estate has now contacted the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to establish ancillary proceedings and address these claims.
FTX: Three-way battle erupts over confiscated SBF assets
The estate of the FTX debtors has requested the right to reclaim all of Sam Bankman-Fried’s seized assets divided into six main categories, namely proceeds from interlocutory sales of Robinhood shares placed in the name of Emergent Fidelity Technologies (another company owned by SBF), funds in FTX Digital Markets accounts with Farmington State Bank and Silvergate Bank, funds in Binance accounts under Alameda Research Ltd. and Evergreen North Enterprises, both aircraft, funds in a Signature Bank account owned by Bankman-Fried and former director of FTX. Luk Wai Chan, as well as political contributions by Bankman Fried and other former FTX employees attributable to fraud and money laundering.
According to the petition submitted, the estate of the FTX debtors claims a superior right, greater than that of Sam Bankman-Fried, to these specific assets because they were all held in the name of the company or financed by the company’s assets.
However, Emergent management has deposit for the right to claim Robinhood market share proceeds. Based on their motion, even though Bankman-Fried may be a majority shareholder of Emergent, the shares in question were purchased in the name of the company and not the defendant.
Meanwhile, a class action lawsuit filed by a group of FTX creditors is also underway. laid claims on all forfeited assets indicating that they are or were acquired by the assets of FTX clients and must be returned to such clients rather than to the estate of the FTX debtors.
Additionally, this group of creditors aims to offer settlement in kind, returning assets to creditors on a 1:1 basis rather than in a dollarized form as proposed by the bankruptcy estate. Additionally, the class action also criticized the debtors’ estate’s commitment to paying non-client creditors, e.g. BlockFi with “the assets of FTX clients” before the creditors of regular clients.
After considering these motions, the court will grant each party a hearing date to adjudicate their respective claims regarding the forfeited assets. Then, the relevant authorities will be informed to ensure a fair distribution of these assets.
Crypto Market Overview
Separately, the total crypto market cap fell 3.2% last week, reaching a value of $2.3 trillion.
Featured image from Forkast, chart from Tradingview
