US government asks for court approval to sell private jets tied to Sam Bankman-Fried
Prosecutors in the United States government’s case against Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried proposed a court order to sell two private aircraft before the conclusion of the forfeiture proceedings against the former FTX CEO.
In a March 22 filing with U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the government sought to execute an interlocutory sale of two planes tied to FTX and SBF “to prevent their devaluation.” Prosecutors argued in October 2023 that the Bombardier Global and Embraer Legacy aircraft were subject to forfeiture due to their ties to Bankman-Fried’s criminal case.
It’s unclear what price tag the government intends to use for the aircraft, which cost $15.9 million and $12.5 million, respectively, according to October 2023 court filings. Prosecutors said they intended to reimburse up to $1.8 million related to maintenance and upkeep and $183,000 for delivery of the Legacy, assuming the proceeds from the sale were sufficient.
According to Williams, prosecutors reached an agreement with FTX and related parties to have the Embraer Legacy delivered to a Florida airport where the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) can begin proceedings for a sale “in a timely fashion.” The USMS already has custody of the Bombardier Global following a February 2023 warrant.
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The luxury jets are just a few of the assets tied to Bankman-Fried subject to forfeiture following his criminal conviction. A March filing listed assets including Robinhood stock, fiat currency in U.S. dollars, cryptocurrency in Binance and Binance.US accounts and political contributions SBF made during his time as FTX CEO. Bankman-Fried and his attorney, Marc Mukasey, did not object to the aircraft sale.
The former FTX was convicted of seven felony counts in November 2023 and is behind bars while awaiting a March 28 sentencing hearing. Prosecutors have recommended that SBF serve 40 to 50 years, while his attorneys have asked a judge to impose a 6.5-year sentence.
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