In a landmark ruling, a New York court has permanently confiscated assets belonging to Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former CEO of FTX, with the total valuation nearing one billion dollars.

This decisive legal move coincides with FTX’s initial phase of creditor repayments.

Justice Comes Down Hard on SBF

On February 18, 2025, the Southern District Court of New York issued a final order detailing the extensive list of seized assets from Bankman-Fried. Among the most notable is a block of 55.2 million Robinhood shares—valued at $605.7 million following a company buyback in September 2024—initially seized by the U.S. Department of Justice in January 2023.

This was also marked as one of the largest line items in terms of US dollars to be forfeited. In September Robinhood repurchased the shares for $605.7 million.

Beyond equities, Bankman-Fried’s personal fortune included high-value assets such as two private jets—a Bombardier Global 5000 and an Embraer Legacy—as well as holdings linked to Alameda Research, the trading firm at the center of the FTX debacle.

Authorities will also be confiscating the large sum of cryptocurrency and cash that he has accumulated and kept in his Binance and various bank accounts. The crypto forfeited includes millions of Tether's USDt, and considerable amounts of Bitcoin, Ether, Cardano, and Dogecoin.

Furthermore, authorities detailed a list of political donations made by Bankman-Fried or directed by him through other FTX executives, including Ryan Salame and Nishad Singh. The donations, which had gone to various political campaigns and organisations, were returned to the government.

SBF interview behind prison bars

Bankman-Fried had also recently had an interview with The New York Sun while he was behind bars, where he revealed some interesting new claims about the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse and also shared about how his views on politics changed over the years.

During his 15-min conversation with the media outlet, Bankman-Fried insisted that contrary to popular beliefs, his company had enough assets to repay all of its customers during the time of its collapse in November 2022.

Bankman-Fried also voices his frustration with Judge Kaplan-the presiding judge over the case for-for painting his company for painting him in a bad light and not allowing him to fully explain himself throughout the hearing.

Bankman-Fried also addressed the burning question of why he made such a huge sum of donations during his 2020 elections, which led many to think that he was in cahoots with the democratic party who helped FTX to cover up their wrongdoings.

Bankman-Fried explained that his early Democratic Party donations during the 2020 election were aimed at preventing the party from becoming the party of Bernie Sanders. During the campaign, he donated a total of $40 million to political candidates and PACs in 2022 before FTX's collapse.

But since then, Bankman-Fried has expressed his disappointment in the Biden administration, especially regarding his policy regarding cryptocurrency.

"The Biden administration was just incredibly destructive and difficult to work with, and frankly, the Republican Party was far more reasonable."

Fans expecting Sam Bankman-Fried to receive a Presidential pardon

Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence, continues to appeal his conviction, arguing that prosecutors misrepresented the management of FTX’s customer funds.

The former crypto executive's parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, are now pursuing clemency efforts to secure a pardon from Republican President Donald Trump.

After President Trump granted Ross Ulbricht a pardon, fans are now wondering could Bankman-Fried be the next person on the list to receive a Presidential pardon.

While granting a pardon to Bankman-Fried could be a bold statement for President Trump to show his support for the crypto community, but many fans are highly doubtful that he might do so because he might have more to lose.

Furthermore, unlike Ross's case, which was a campaign promise that President Trump had made before his election, Bankman-Fried's case also lacks the similar political momentum for President Trump to grant him a pardon.

First Creditor Repayments Begin

As this ruling unfolds, FTX has commenced its initial phase of creditor repayments, distributing $800 million out of the allocated $1.2 billion to over 162,000 accounts via Kraken and BitGo. This first wave prioritizes the “Convenience Class,” which includes claims below $50,000.

Notably, the value of the confiscated assets surpasses earlier estimates from January 2023, which initially projected a $700 million seizure. Subsequent investigations uncovered additional holdings tied to Bankman-Fried, raising the total to nearly one billion dollars. This marks a significant step toward compensating FTX’s creditors, who collectively suffered losses exceeding $9 billion.