SBF’s holding company Emergent Fidelity files for bankruptcy

• Emergent Fidelity Technologies, the Sam Bankman-Fried holding company, has declared bankruptcy.
• Bankman-Fried owns 90% of the company, with the remaining 10% owned by FTX co-founder Gary Wang.

Emergent Fidelity Technologies, the Sam Bankman-Fried holding company, has declared bankruptcy, reported Bloomberg.

The Antigua and Barbuda-based company filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

In November 2022, crypto lending firm BlockFi filed a lawsuit against the company over the status of approximately 55 million shares of Robinhood.

The said shares, valued at over $590 million, have been contended over by a number of parties, including BlockFi, FTX creditor Yonathan Ben Shimon, and Bankman-Fried himself.

The Department of Justice announced last month that Robinhood shares worth $55 million, as well as approximately $20 million in USD, had been seized as part of the case against FTX and its executives.

What happened exactly?

Emergent Fidelity Technologies took ownership of the shares and the $20 million, which were previously held by brokerage firm Marex Capital Markets prior to the Justice Department seizure.

According to Angela Barkhouse, one of the joint provisional liquidators in the case, Emergent Fidelity Technologies, filed for Chapter 11 in the same court as FTX in order to pursue a type of joint administration between the two bankruptcies.

The duties of the joint provisional liquidators are to the Debtor’s creditors, whoever these creditors may be. As there are several parties claiming to be creditors or outright owners of the Robinhood shares in proceedings in the United States, the liquidators believe that chapter 11 protection is the only practical way for the Debtor to defend itself, the assets, and the interests of its creditors in the country.

Barkhouse mentions that Bankman-Fried owns 90% of the company, with the remaining 10% owned by FTX co-founder Gary Wang. The criminal trial for Bankman-Fried is set to begin in October, while Wang has already pled guilty to fraud charges.