Falling FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from Alameda Research to buy his massive stake in Robinhood Markets Inc., according to reports. court documents.
In an affidavit provided to a Caribbean court prior to his arrest, Bankman-Fried said he and FTX co-founder Gary Wang together borrowed more than $546 million from Alameda through promissory notes on April and May. They used that money to capitalize Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd, the shell corporation that in May bought a 7.6% share of Robinhood.
The affidavit provides a new curve in the three-way race for 56 million HOOD shares. Cryptocurrency lender BlockFi, FTX Group, and Bankman-Fried themselves have all attempted to claim ownership of the shares, which could be worth more than $440 million.
Cryptocurrency lending company BlockFi, which also filed for bankruptcy, allegedly in a court document that it has rights to Robinhood stock due to a deal Bankman-Fried made in early November, according to Tuesday’s filing, the shares were pledged as collateral for an Alameda Research loan. – the same company whose money is used to buy shares.
Nikhilesh De contributed reporting.
