The United States Department of Justice has officially notified the court handling the bankruptcy of FTX that it has seized assets in accordance with criminal cases against the crypto exchange and its executives. In a Jan. 6 court filing, the Justice Department said it had seized 55,273,469 shares of Robinhood to which former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, BlockFi, and FTX creditor Yonathan Ben Shimon had made claims — worth more than $450 million at the time of publication. The DOJ noted it had also taken control of more than $20 million in U.S. currency from the brokerage firm ED&F Man …

FTX’s Bahamian company spent a staggering amount of money on luxury hotels and accommodation, flights, and food just nine months before the exchange’s collapse, court filings revealed. In bankruptcy court documents reviewed by Business Insider, FTX Digital Markets went through $40 million between January to September 2022, just two months before the company filed for bankruptcy citing liquidity issues. More than $15 million went on luxury hotels and accommodation, with $5.8 million of that at one resort — the Albany Hotel. This luxury resort is where Sam Bankman-Fried lived in his $30 million penthouse until his arrest, the report added. …

Crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group, or DCG, are under investigation by the United States Department of Justice's Eastern District of New York (EDNY) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to a Bloomberg report. The authorities are digging into internal transfers between DCG and its subsidiary crypto lending firm Genesis Global Capital, noted the report citing people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors have already requested interviews and documents from both the companies, while the SEC is running an early-stage similar inquiry. As of yet, no indictment has been brought against DCG, nor have both U.S. authorities provided any information …

Scuderia Ferrari, the racing division of luxury carmaker Ferrari, joined the growing list of Formula One racing teams to end partnerships with their cryptocurrency sponsors. Ferrari exited its multi-year partnership deals with Velas Blockchain and chip manufacturing giant Snapdragon, resulting in a cumulative $55 million loss for the Italian team ahead of the 2023 season. The Ferrari-Velas partnership from 2021 — set at $30 million a year — was aimed at increasing fan engagement through nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and other shared initiatives. However, the team was noncompliant with the clauses that permit Velas to create NFT images, according to RacingNews365. …

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX's plans to sell its digital currency futures and clearinghouse LedgerX, among other businesses, were challenged by the U.S. Trustee on Jan. 7, according to Reuters. As per the filing, U.S. Trustee Andrew Vara called for an independent investigation before any sale, claiming that valuable information related to the exchange's bankruptcy could be compromised. The document states: "The sale of potentially valuable causes of action against the Debtors' directors, officers and employees, or any other person or entity, should not be permitted until there has been a full and independent investigation into all persons and entities that …

FTX's new management is seeking to recover millions of dollars in donations made by the crypto exchange and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, reports the Wall Street Journal. At the end of September, FTX's charity arm, Future Fund, had committed more than $160 million to more than 110 nonprofit organizations, including biotech startups and university researchers developing Covid-19 vaccines and working on pandemic studies, as well as nonprofit organizations in India, China and Brazil. As per the report, Future Fund committed $3.6 million to AVECRIS, a company working on a genetic vaccine platform, and another $5 million were donated to …

The FTX Debtors, made up of FTX and its affiliated debtors, and FTX Digital Markets (FTX DM), the Bahamian subsidiary of FTX, announced Jan. 6 that they have reached a cooperation agreement regarding the FTX Debtors’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in Delaware and the provisional liquidation of FTX DM in the Bahamas. Under the agreement, the parties will “share information, secure and return property to their estates, coordinate litigation against third parties and explore strategic alternatives for maximizing stakeholder recoveries.” They have also set parameters for cooperation in each other’s court cases. In addition, the parties agreed the joint provisional …

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has launched a page on its website appealing to Sam Bankman-Fried’s victims of fraud at FTX to come forward and informing them about court proceedings. In a Jan. 6 filing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon requested the federal court allow her office to take “reasonable, accurate, and timely notice” to inform fraud victims from crypto exchange FTX while under the leadership of Bankman-Fried. According to Sassoon, the government proposed an “alternative plan” for notifying victims in the FTX case through an online notice which went live on Jan. …

After Sam Bankman-Fried was handed over to United States officials last month, his top lieutenants — Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang — had already been cooperating with the feds. The two pleaded guilty to a slew of charges and agreed to assist the Southern District of New York to investigate FTX and their former boss. SBF had his day in court on Jan. 3 and pled not guilty to all criminal charges. As the saga surrounding SBF and FTX intensified, crypto capital market company Digital Currency Group was facing problems of its own. Its CEO, Barry Silbert, has been accused …

The legal team for former FTX chief executive officer Sam Bankman-Fried has filed a motion in an effort to stop the exchange’s debtors from controlling more than $450 million worth of shares of Robinhood. In a Jan. 5 court filing regarding FTX’s bankruptcy case, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers said FTX debtors had “failed to carry their heavy burden” establishing that they had a legal claim to more than 56 million Robinhood shares. The legal team confirmed reports that the United States Departure of Justice was in the process of seizing the shares, but said SBF was “compelled to reply” given the stakes …

The cryptocurrency ecosystem underwent a turbulent year in 2022. Criticism inside and outside of the crypto industry was fueled following the collapse of FTX, Celsius, Three Arrows Capital and the Terra ecosystem. A number of losses have been recorded from these events. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis released a report in December of last year, which noted that the depegging of Terra’s stablecoin, Terra USD Classic (USTC), saw weekly-realized losses peak at $20.5 billion. Findings further show that the subsequent collapse of Three Arrows Capital and Celsius in June 2022 saw weekly-realized losses reach $33 billion. While these events may have …

A group of FTX customers has filed a limited objection to FTX’s plan to sell four independently-operated subsidiaries, arguing that they should be privy to the sales process to ensure customer interests are represented. It has also shared concerns that "misappropriated customer funds” may have been used to acquire, or keep these firms running. The limited objection was filed on Dec. 4 by an ad hoc committee of non-U.S. customers, which comprises 18 members who collectively have claims against FTX in excess of $1.9 billion. In its filing, the committee argued that previous public statements by FTX, the Securities and …