- Complete Asset Forfeiture
- Even Donations Were Clawed Back
- First Payouts in FTX Bankruptcy Begin
- The Rise and Fall of FTX
Disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried had so many assets that the U.S. government needed dozens of pages to detail everything he lost after being convicted of fraud.
Complete Asset Forfeiture
A final forfeiture ruling issued Tuesday by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York officially stripped Sam Bankman-Fried of ownership rights to a long list of assets spanning dozens of pages. The court document details a vast range of holdings claimed by the former billionaire, including extensive crypto assets tied to Alameda Research, the trading firm he co-founded.
According to the report, Alameda’s Binance holdings included: $56 million in XRP tokens (Ripple), $3.6 million in TRX tokens (Tron), $3.4 million in ADA tokens (Cardano), $2.3 million in BTC (Bitcoin), and dozens of other crypto assets.
The largest single asset listed was the $606 million in proceeds from the sale of Robinhood shares, which belonged to Bankman-Fried’s Emergent Fidelity Technologies.
Other financial assets included:
• $119 million in Tether (USDT) stored on Binance for Alameda Research
• $21 million in Marex (allocated for new technologies at Fidelity Technologies)
• $50 million in Moonstone Bank for FTX digital markets
• $101 million in Silvergate for FTX digital markets
• $7 million in Flagstar Bank for SBF and another individual
The seized assets also included two private jets: a 2009 Bombardier Global 5000 and a 2006 Embraer Legacy.
Even Donations Were Clawed Back
The court document includes a lengthy list of over 250 political donations that were reclaimed from campaigns and organizations that had received them. This includes contributions allegedly made by other FTX executives under Sam Bankman-Fried’s direction. During the last congressional session, one in three members was found to have received money from Bankman-Fried or other FTX executives. Additionally, they donated substantial sums to numerous state-level political organizations.
First Payouts in FTX Bankruptcy Begin
The first to receive payouts will be Convenience Class creditors—those with claims of $50,000 or less. They will receive full repayment plus 9% annual interest after submitting their claims. Some optimists believe this influx of funds could flow back into the crypto market, driving up prices. But not everyone is convinced.
“FTX will pay out around $1.2 billion to Convenience Class creditors,” noted Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, in a client note on Monday. However, he argued that this sum is “too small to make an impact.”
Thielen estimated that only $7 billion of the remaining $10.5 billion allocated for major creditors might be available for potential crypto investments. Of that, he believes only 50%—roughly $3 billion—could make its way back into the market, equivalent to just one month of Bitcoin’s net inflows.
The next round of payouts is scheduled for May 30, 2025, covering claims over $50,000. To participate, creditors must complete KYC verification, submit the required tax forms, and register on BitGo or Kraken by April 11, 2025.
The Rise and Fall of FTX
FTX was once a leading crypto exchange, offering a wide range of trading products, including futures, options, leveraged tokens, and volatility trading instruments. At its peak in July 2021, the platform served over a million users worldwide.
However, in November 2022, FTX faced a severe liquidity crisis and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. It was later revealed that the exchange had $9 billion in liabilities but less than $1 billion in assets, triggering the resignation of CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. This marked one of the biggest scandals in crypto history.
Bankman-Fried was charged with fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance violations. In November 2023, he was found guilty on all seven counts. On March 28, 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $11 billion in restitution.
On April 11, 2024, Bankman-Fried filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence. The appeals process could take several years.
