​Ex-CEO of FTX opposes the distribution of Robinhood shares to creditors of the exchange

Sam Bankman-Fried has argued he should retain control of around $450 million in shares of financial trading app Robinhood, disputing a rival claim by the estate of the company he founded and once ran, the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX.

The 56 million shares, in principle owned by Bankman-Fried and co-founder Gary Wang through a holding company called Emergent Fidelity Technologies, are the subject of a complex legal battle that also includes bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi and the U.S. Department of Justice.

In a Dec. 22 filing to the Delaware bankruptcy court, FTX – now under the management of restructuring expert John Ray – said the shares were only nominally held by Emergent Fidelity, and should be frozen until they can be divided up fairly among FTX creditors. Its claim was supported by those liquidating the company in the Bahamas.

Bankman-Fried opposed that idea in a filing made Thursday, arguing that he and Wang had legitimately bought the shares using money borrowed from FTX’s trading arm, Alameda Research, and that the loan was documented. BlockFi, a lender that FTX last year attempted to prop up before it also filed for bankruptcy, also opposed the attempt to seize control of the shares in a separate filing made Thursday.

“It is improper for the FTX Debtors to ask the Court to simply assume that everything Mr. Bankman-Fried ever touched is presumptively fraudulent,” Bankman-Fried's filing said. “Mr. Bankman-Fried requires some of these funds to pay for his criminal defense.”

Bankman-Fried, who this week pleaded not guilty to charges including money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, resigned as CEO Nov. 11, the same day the company collapsed following allegations of a blurring of lines between FTX and Alameda.

FTX argued in December that Emergent Fidelity, owned 90% by Bankman-Fried and 10% by Wang, was a shell company, whose interests were “sufficiently identical” to those of the wider company. Ray has previously complained of defective record-keeping at FTX, and in particular of transfers being made to staff without proper loan documentation.

In any case, the filings concede, the debate may prove academic, after a representative of the U.S. Department of Justice told the court Wednesday that it was seizing the shares as part of proceedings against Bankman-Fried.