The two multimillion-dollar luxury jets owned by Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried are now subject to forfeiture, according to an Oct. 4 filing by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). According to reports, although SBF owns the jets, he has never used them.
According to the document, the possibility of forfeiture stems from the “offenses described in Counts One through Four and Seven of Indictment 22 Cr. 673 (LAK),” which were brought against SBF.
SBF’s private jets are now property subject to forfeiture
A forfeiture bill filed by the Department of Justice late Wednesday named two planes, a Bombardier Global and an Embraer Legacy, as assets belonging to SBF that might potentially be seized from him.
According to records filed on September 21 with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, these two aircraft are currently at the center of an ownership dispute between the government, FTX, and the aviation firm operating the planes, Island Air Capital.
SBF is now on trial in New York on fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from the November 2022 collapse of his crypto exchange FTX. He has entered a not-guilty plea.
“The Government has taken the position that both aircraft are subject to forfeiture as property purchased with the proceeds of fraud,” according to the filing by Island Air Capital (IAC), while FTX claims ownership because alleged loans used to purchase the planes were not verified.
IAC wants to know who will foot the bill for ongoing maintenance and inspections while the dispute is resolved and claims that nobody from FTX ever flew on either jet because they were still being upgraded when the firm filed for bankruptcy.
The Embraer was originally purchased by IAC for $12.5 million and the Bombardier for $15.9 million using “financing provided from FTX,” according to the petition, which details an unsecured, no-interest loan agreed to in a “handshake deal” between Bankman-Fried and IAC’s owner, Paul Aranha.
Details of the trial thus far
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit accusing SBF, FTX, and Alameda Research of violating the Commodity Exchange Act in December 2022. Among the CFTC’s accusations against SBF was that he “used FTX customer funds for a variety of personal expenditures,” including private jets.
This filing comes as Bankman-Fried is presently on trial for multiple charges related to the 2022 FTX crash. SBF has pled not guilty to each and every charge. Lewis Kaplan is presiding over the trial.
The trial began on October 3 with jury selection, and the prosecution and defense presented their opening statements on October 4.
The DOJ’s opening statement portrayed Bankman-Fried as intentionally deceiving customers and investors to become wealthy and expand his operations, while SBF’s defense portrayed him as a young entrepreneur whose business plans “didn’t work out.”
FTX exploiter moves $36.8M in Ether amid SBF’s trial
During the ongoing court hearings of the collapsed crypto exchange’s ex-CEO, the crypto wallet address linked to the FTX exploiter moved around $36.8 million in Ether in the last 24 hours.
On November 11, 2022, accounts associated to FTX and FTX.US were wiped out to the tune of $600 million, only hours after the crypto exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. At the time, FTX general counsel Ryne Miller alerted traders of the malware-caused hack:
FTX has been hacked. Chat is open. Please don’t go to the FTX site, as it might download Trojans. Note that some funds were retrieved.
Ryne Miller
The FTX exploiter began syphoning away the stolen cash after nearly 10 months of silence, beginning with a transfer of 10,250 ETH worth $17.1 million via four addresses between Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, according to Spot On Chain statistics.
The exploiter began with 175,496 ETH ($294 million). However, the current value of their portfolio is $196.014 million. Since September 30, a total of 67,500 ETH has been transferred from five of the fifteen wallet addresses associated with the FTX exploiter.
