At a status conference in the FTX Group chapter 11 cases, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had seized bank accounts held at Silvergate Bank in the name of FTX Digital Markets and certain shares of Robinhood stock held by Emergent Fidelity Technologies, an entity associated with FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
U.S. Attorney Seth Shapiro said that competing claims to the assets could be resolved in civil and criminal forfeiture proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The shares are subject to
competing claims of the FTX Group debtors, the BlockFi debtors and FTX creditors. Silvergate Bank had disclosed the seizure of depository accounts held at the bank in a
pleading earlier today.
On Tuesday, Jan. 3, FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried
pleaded not guilty to
criminal charges of wire fraud, money laundering, campaign finance violations and related conspiracy claims. Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang have
pleaded guilty to criminal charges and have also consented to the entry of consent judgments to civil charges brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to clarify that the Silvergate bank accounts were held in the name of FTX Digital Markets.