US attorneys in New York allege Bankman-Fried got the shares, cash and crypto assets illegally by using funds deposited by customers of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX

Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will have to give up nearly $700 million worth of assets if he is found guilty of fraud, according to a court document filed by US prosecutors.

Federal prosecutors seized most of the assets listed in the Friday filing from Bankman-Fried earlier this month which included nearly 55 million Robinhood shares that were worth $526 million as of Friday.

Bankman-Fried used funds deposited by customers of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX for getting the shares, cash and crypto assets illegally, the attorneys alleged. These included assets held with rival exchange Binance.

Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to charges including fraud, money laundering, and violating campaign finance laws earlier in January. The former FTX CEO is scheduled to face trial in October.

According to prosecutors, he paid off debts owed by Alameda Research – FTX’s crypto trading arm – using billions of dollars from the exchange’s customers. Any assets he forfeits will likely be used to pay them back.

A separate four-way fight is going on involving Bankman-Fried, FTX’s new bosses, failed crypto lender BlockFi and an FTX creditor in Antigua for ownership of the Robinhood shares.

All of them are laying claim to the assets held by Antigua-based holding company Emergent Fidelity Technologies. Bankman-Fried is the sole director and majority stakeholder in the company.

In May 2022, Emergent and Bankman-Fried disclosed a 7.6 per cent stake in the trading app provider, paying $648 million for just over 56.3 million shares, as per a SEC filing.

As per court filing on Friday, more than $170 million in dollar-denominated cash have been seized from Bankman-Fried by US authorities.

He held just over $100 million in an account with Silvergate Capital, $50 million with Farmington State Bank and $21 million with ED&F Man Capital Markets.