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Firm That Held SBF's 56M HOOD Shares Files for Bankruptcy

Tim Fries

Published: February 6, 2023 3:47 am

Last Updated: February 6, 2023 12:18 pm

According to a report from Friday, Emergent Fidelity Technologies, an Antigua and Barbuda-based company, filed for voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy. The firm recently found itself in the middle of a multi-sided international legal battle over Sam Bankman-Fried’s 56 million Robinhood shares.

Emergent Fidelity Technologies Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Emergent Fidelity Technologies, an offshore holding company based in Antigua and Barbuda, best-know for holding Sam Bankman-Fried’s 56 million Robinhood shares, filed for bankruptcy on Friday, February 3rd. The chapter 11 filing was made in Delaware in an effort to enable joint administration with the main FTX bankruptcy.

The company lost control of the Robinhood shares, worth around $590 million at the time of filing, in early January when the Department of Justice announced their seizure. Emergent Fidelity Technologies were left with only $20 million in cash at the time of bankruptcy.

The unity of jurisdiction over FTX’s bankruptcy became complicated already in mid-November 2022 when Bahaman liquidators made a separate chapter 15 filing in New York. The issue, however, appears to be resolved as of early 2023 as the teams headed by John J. Ray and by island nation’s liquidators reportedly reached an agreement by January 6th.

The Battle for SBF’s HOOD

The issue of Sam Bankman-Fried’s Robinhood shares became very heated by late 2022. Before the DoJ seized the stock, four separate parties laid claim to the assets. At the time, they were sought after by the US authorities, Antigua and Barbuda liquidators, SBF himself, and BlockFi—one of the firms that went bankrupt as the result of the collapse of FTX.

Sam Bankman-Fried attempted to keep the shares from the creditors with the argument he needed them to pay his legal fees. His claim, in large part, depended on the fact that the shares were held by Emergent Fidelity Technologies—a firm not included in FTX’s bankruptcy at the time.

Since then, the Bankman-Frieds have made more attempts to raise additional funds for SBF’s defense. In mid-January, a luxury Washington property controlled by the family was listed for sale for $3.3 million. Sam Bankman-Fried previously claimed he had only around $100,000 left to his name.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist