Robinhood has announced a share repurchase agreement
worth $605.7 million with the US Marshal Service (USMS) to regain control of
shares previously held by Same Bankman-Fried (SBF)’s Emergent Fidelity
Technologies. This move comes after a series of legal events that began when
SBF, just six months before his empire collapsed, disclosed a 7.6% stake in
Robinhood.
The shares in question
had been seized and subsequently transferred into the custody of the US
government after Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, and Emergent
filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022. Reacting to the latest development,
Robinhood’s shares surged by more than 3% in pre-market trading as news of the
buyback broke.
Jason Warnick, the Chief
Financial Officer of Robinhood Markets, remarked: “We are happy to have
completed the purchase of these shares and look forward to executing our growth
plans on behalf of our customers and shareholders.”
The shares, totaling
55.3 million and priced at USD $10.96 a piece, received approval for buyback
from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, paving the
way for Robinhood to repurchase the stake from SBF.
SBF’s journey in the
cryptocurrency landscape saw him amass an estimated net worth of USD $26
billion, largely due to the surging value of digital assets like Bitcoin.
Additionally, he became a prominent political donor in the United States.
However, the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, wiped away his
fortune.
Currently, SBF is facing
legal challenges in the
form of fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from the November 2022 collapse
of his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. In a recent development, a US
judge in Manhattan ordered his incarceration pending his trial in November,
citing concerns that he may have tampered with witnesses while under house arrest
in his parent’s Palo Alto, California, residence on a USD $250 million bail.
Bankman-Fried’s Legal
Battles Continue
According to a report by Finance
Magnates, SBF’s legal team
has contended
that his imprisonment is
impeding his trial preparation. This week, they filed a challenge to his
detention at the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking his temporary
release. Meanwhile, SBF recently pleaded not guilty to a revised indictment
that includes seven counts of charges,…
