FTX has asked a US court to freeze $450 million in Robinhood shares following a competing claim from embattled crypto lender BlockFi.
BlockFi declared bankruptcy and סוד a Sam Bankman-Fried holding company over his Robinhood stock last month. The firm says Alameda had pledged the stake in November as part of a billion-dollar collateral package intended to back loans worth $680 million.
Both FTX and Alameda were beginning to unravel at the time, leading the lender to seek additional security. BlockFi now wants to collect the 56 million shares, which has reduced in value some 40% since it was pledged.
BlockFi owes an estimated 100,000 creditors up to $10 billion; its critical FTX bailout from June snuffed by the fraud scandal.
But at this point, it’s not exactly clear who really owns the stock. Bankman-Fried himself is staking a claim, as is an FTX creditor, per a Thursday באַוועגונג filed in US bankruptcy court in Delaware.
In May, Bankman-Fried disclosed he held a 7.6% פלעקל in Robinhood, at the time worth $605 million, through a firm Emergent Fidelity Technologies, of which he is a majority owner. The company is incorporated in Antigua & Barbuda.
The former FTX CEO had been looking for a source of payment for legal fees, according to the motion.
“Emergent is a special-purpose holding company that appears to have no other business,” FTX said in its filing. The firm, now run under veteran insolvency specialist John Ray, reckons the Robinhood shares will be conclusively estate property once its evidence has been finalized.
As such, FTX wants an automatic בלייַבן on the stock in a matter fair to creditors until the matter is formally solved, filing a Thursday motion in the US bankruptcy court in Delaware.
If courts don’t determine the FTX estate owns the stock, then it should extend the stay to Emergent itself and “ensure that all creditors — including BlockFi and the others — can participate in an orderly claims process before this Court.”
The filing calls out ex-Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison for pledging collateral package, despite the shares being technically owned by Emergent, allegedly with “knowledge and encouragement from Bankman-Fried.”
A hearing on the matter was not scheduled at the time the motion was filed.
באַקומען די שפּיץ קריפּטאָ נייַעס און ינסייץ פון דעם טאָג איבערגעגעבן צו דיין ינבאָקס יעדער אָוונט. אַבאָנירן צו די פריי נוזלעטער פון Blockworks איצט.
קענען ניט וואַרטן? באַקומען אונדזער נייַעס די פאַסטאַסט וועג מעגלעך. באַהעפטן אונדז אויף טעלעגראַם.
Source: https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-wants-sbf-robinhood-stake-frozen-after-blockfi-sues