In a noteworthy development, the FTX Debtors' Estate is currently contesting claims from various parties regarding the ownership of assets forfeited by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) after his conviction for fraud and money laundering. On Friday, the estate filed a petition with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York to initiate ancillary proceedings to address these claims.

FTX: Three-Way Battle Over SBF’s Forfeited Assets

The FTX Debtors' Estate seeks to claim all seized assets of Sam Bankman-Fried, divided into six main categories: proceeds from the sale of Robinhood shares under Emergent Fidelity Technologies (another SBF firm), funds in FTX Digital Markets’ accounts at Farmington State Bank and Silvergate Bank, funds in Binance accounts under Alameda Research Ltd. and Evergreen North Enterprises, two aircraft, funds in a Signature Bank account belonging to Bankman-Fried and former FTX exec Luk Wai Chan, and political contributions by Bankman-Fried and other former FTX employees linked to fraud and money laundering.

The estate argues that it has a superior claim to these assets, as they were held in the company’s name or funded by its assets.

However, Emergent's management has filed a claim to the Robinhood shares, arguing that although Bankman-Fried is a majority owner, the shares were purchased in Emergent's name, not his.

Additionally, a class action suit by a group of FTX creditors claims all forfeited assets, arguing they were acquired using FTX customer funds and should be returned to these customers rather than the FTX Debtors' Estate. This group proposes an in-kind settlement, returning assets to creditors on a 1:1 basis rather than in cash, and criticizes the estate's commitment to pay non-customer creditors, like BlockFi, with FTX customer assets before regular customer creditors.

The court will review these petitions and set hearing dates for each party to adjudicate their claims over the forfeited assets. Relevant authorities will then be notified to ensure a fair distribution of these assets.

Crypto Market Overview

In other news, the total cryptocurrency market cap has declined by 3.2% over the past week, falling to $2.3 trillion.