IMPORTANT POINTS:
- Robinhood buys back 55 million shares seized from FTX founders for $605 million.
- Sam Bankman-Fried’s shares in Robinhood were seized in December 2022 due to a criminal case against him.
- As Gary Wang pleads guilty to various crimes, including fraud, Sam Bankman-Fried continues to defend his innocence.
Leading cryptocurrency trading company Robinhood has repurchased shares belonging to Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang, shares that had previously been seized by the United States Marshals Service.
Both businessmen, founders of FTX, had possession of 55 million shares in Robinhood through the entity Emergent Fidelity Technologies. These valuable shares fell into the hands of the US authorities as part of the legal action taken against Bankman-Fried.
It is relevant to note that it was on December 30, 2022, when a seizure order was issued, resulting in the transfer of these shares to the US government on January 4, which subsequently opted to put them up for sale on December 13. August.
In an effort to win back the valuable stake, Robinhood shelled out a hefty $605 million in a deal with the US Marshals Service.
Guilty or not guilty?
The legal landscape is complicated for Bankman-Fried, since, in previous instances, together with his legal team, he had expressed his opposition to the claim of the FTX insolvency process on these actions.
Bankman-Fried’s defense stressed that, unlike FTX clients who exposed themselves to a possible “economic loss”, he faced damage of an “irreparable” nature, given the limitations he could have by not accessing these funds to your defense in the criminal case.
On the other hand, Wang has already acknowledged his involvement in various crimes, including electronic fraud and conspiracy to commit different types of fraud, including securities.
The situation for Bankman-Fried is delicate. Despite being charged with similar and even more serious charges than Wang, he continues to plead not guilty.
