FTX Battles for Control of $450M Robinhood Shares in US Bankruptcy Court

Sam Bankman-Fried’s bankrupt cryptocurrency trade FTX is in search of assist from a United States Chapter Courtroom to achieve management of $450 million value of Robinhood shares.

The portfolio holds 56 million brokerage shares owned by Emergent Constancy Applied sciences, a company entity integrated in Antigua and Barbuda. In March, these shares represented a 7.6% stake in Robinhood and have been acquired by FTX’s founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).

FTX in Courtroom Battle Over Robinhood Shares Value Thousands and thousands

Three events are contesting possession of the shares – crypto lender BlockFi, FTX creditor Yonathan Ben Shimon, and SBF. FTX is now asking the courtroom to cease BlockFi and different events from gaining management of the shares.

On 28 November, BlockFi filed a lawsuit requesting the turnover of the shares, which it claimed had been pledged as collateral to safe a $680m mortgage for FTX’s sister firm, Alameda Analysis.

BlockFi acknowledged that the debt compensation was due on 9 November, however Alameda and FTX filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety earlier than this date with out repaying the mortgage. FTX argued that chapter safety shields it from debt assortment efforts.

Who Will Management the Helpful Robinhood Stake?

The shares have been frozen by Emergent’s dealer, ED&F Man Capital Markets, on the order of the Chapter Courtroom following the Chapter 11 filing on 11 November. SBF additionally reportedly tried to promote the shares through a Sign app earlier than the chapter submitting.

FTX is asking the courtroom to permit the shares to stay frozen whereas it seeks methods to repay its collectors. The troubled firm claims that Emergent solely “nominally” owns the shares and that they rightfully belong to FTX. The trade additionally claims that Emergent is a “special-purpose holding firm that seems to don’t have any different enterprise.”

In its courtroom submitting, FTX argued that the truth that a number of collectors of various Debtors and SBF are all in search of possession of the Robinhood shares demonstrates that the asset ought to be frozen till the courtroom can “resolve the problems in a fashion that’s truthful to all collectors of the Debtors.”