Court filings: Sam Bankman-Fried said in an affidavit that he and Gary Wang borrowed $546M+ from Alameda to buy a nearly 8% stake, or ~56M shares, in Robinhood
The Robinhood holding was initially disclosed as a 7.6% investment worth $648M; the affidavit identifies Alameda borrowing as the funding source for what became a nearly 8% position. It adds a concrete related-party financing trail to Alameda’s other large uses of funds, including the $3B Binance-stake buyout and $4B venture push.
That trail later became consequential to the estate: prosecutors listed roughly $525M of Robinhood stock among seized Bankman-Fried assets. The filing therefore connects a public-equity position to the wider separation of FTX, Alameda, and personal holdings.
First-order effects
Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang’s affidavit puts Alameda directly behind the Robinhood purchase, making the stake part of the scrutiny around how Alameda funds were deployed.
Robinhood’s large outside shareholder position is tied to a dispute over control and recovery rather than solely to the investment rationale stated in the earlier Robinhood stake disclosure.
Second-order effects
Prosecutors and other claimants gain a clearer basis to treat the Robinhood shares as an asset linked to Alameda financing, concentrating attention on custody and disposition of the stake.
The SEC’s later allegation that customer funds were diverted to Alameda gives the disclosed borrowing a more specific factual connection to the conduct under investigation, rather than an isolated portfolio investment.
Third-order effects
If affiliated trading firms can finance executives’ public-equity stakes with pooled company capital, bankruptcy and enforcement processes will increasingly have to unwind ownership structures that blur corporate and personal assets.
The episode points to a governance premium for clearer segregation between exchange operations, affiliated trading firms, and executives’ investments—especially where customer funds are alleged to have moved across those boundaries.
The trend: The FTX-Alameda case is exposing how related-party funding can turn ostensibly separate executive investments into recoverable assets and enforcement evidence.
NEW: Sam Bankman-Fried bought his 7.6% stake in Robinhood with funds borrowed from Alameda in April and May, he admitted in an Antigua court affidavit shortly before he was arrested https://storage.courtlistener.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
The FTX plot thickens: Sam Bankman-Fried bought Robinhood stock using hundreds of millions of dollars from his trading firm, Alameda Research. And then Alameda took out a loan and pledged those same shares as collateral, per CoinDesk.💵 Unbelievable. https://markets.businessinside…
SBF also reveals in the filing that his FTX co-founder Gary Wang owned 10% of the vehicle through which he bought the Robinhood shares. Wang also before Christmas flipped and pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
Customers put billions into FTX —> That money is stolen and put into Alameda —> Alameda lends hundreds of millions back to FTX's founders —> FTX founders put it in an Antiguan shell company —> which buys Robinhood stock —> which ends up back on FTX's balance sheet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https…
Customer deposits funds to FTX. FTX loans to Alameda. Alameda buy equities. Alameda receives a margin loan on the equities. Alameda blows the money on meth. Repeat. https://twitter.com/...
What's the point of AML rules, if a founder can borrow stolen funds to his own holding companies to buy shares in a competitor, with no one questioning the series of shell companies used? https://twitter.com/...
“The affidavit provides a new curveball in the three-way race to lay claim to the 56 million Robinhood shares. Crypto lender BlockFi, FTX Group and Bankman-Fried himself have all attempted to lay claim to the shares, which could be worth over $440 million.” https://twitter.com/..…
Like, if you run a pension fund that invests with Sequoia or any venture capital fund and you aren't asking what the hell they're thinking... https://twitter.com/...
SBF took funds from the trading firm, Alameda Research, to buy Robinhood, $HOOD, stock worth about $450 million this year. Later, Alameda took out a loan and pledged those same shares as collateral, CoinDesk has reported.
Prosecutors have alleged, and two of SBF's closest associates have admitted, that much of Alameda's money was stolen from the FTX crypto exchange. In turn, Alameda extended huge sums to SBF personally. Here's one ‘promissory note’ for $316mn: https://storage.courtlistener.com/ ..…
Looks like Alameda took FTX funds to loan the funds to SBF, so he could buy the Robinhood shares via Emergent Fidelity (Antigua entity), but then according to BlockFi those Robinhood shares were pledged as collateral for a loan BlockFi gave to Alameda. 🤔https://www.bloomberg.com/…
The signer for Alameda is Caroline Ellison, who has already flipped on SBF and admitted her role in what US prosecutors have called one of the biggest financial frauds ever https://twitter.com/...
The circularity here is incredible. Before FTX collapsed, SBF used these same Robinhood shares — bought with money borrowed from Alameda, we now know — as collateral for Alameda's own borrowings from other lenders😵💫 https://www.ft.com/...
TLDR: Sam took FTX customer funds and lent them to Alameda. Sam then borrowed the funds from Alameda to make a shell corp that bought RH shares, and used the shares to secure a loan from BlockFi. Now BlockFi, SBF, and FTX are fighting to claim the shares. https://www.coindesk.com…