[HN Gopher] Robinhood to buy back Bankman-Fried's stake for $605...
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       Robinhood to buy back Bankman-Fried's stake for $605M from U.S.
       government
        
       Author : mfiguiere
       Score  : 55 points
       Date   : 2023-09-01 16:20 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.cnbc.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.cnbc.com)
        
       | troupe wrote:
       | Does anyone know how much Bankman-Fried's company paid for those
       | shares? Does this represent a good deal for Robinhood, or are
       | they paying a premium to get them back?
        
         | ksherlock wrote:
         | The SEC filing where SBF disclosed his stake was May 2, 2022.
         | There was a noticeable HOOD volume increase on April 27-28-29
         | so let's assume that's when they were purchased. The range for
         | that time period was $9.00-10.79/share.
         | 
         | However, that was on the open market so Robin Hood's proceeds
         | were $0.00.
         | 
         | The robin hood IPO was at $38/share which is more than $10.96 a
         | share so in that sense it's a good deal for them.
         | 
         | https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1783879/000114036122...
        
       | exabrial wrote:
       | Are people actually using Robinhood for anything serious?
       | 
       | Personally, if something goes wrong with my money, there needs to
       | be someone on a phone line somewhere to call. I don't understand
       | why anyone would settle for _nonexistant_ customer service.
        
       | xnx wrote:
       | Shares were sold at $10.96, a ~2% discount to the current $11.18
       | share price. Was the US not able to sell these shares on the open
       | market because it would tank the price and value of the shares?
       | 
       | Edit: Facepalm. 2% not 20%
        
         | pgwhalen wrote:
         | Never mind the incorrect math, you have a timing problem: you
         | looked at the price this morning after reading the news about
         | it, but the deal was effectively done overnight. Yesterday's
         | closing price for the stock was $10.89.
        
         | Frummy wrote:
         | That's 2%
        
           | christiangenco wrote:
           | `(11.18-10.96)/11.18=0.0196779964`
           | 
           | That checks out. A 20% discount would've been
           | `11.18-0.2*11.18=8.944`.
        
       | jmartrican wrote:
       | Does the US gov make a profit on the deal? Does some or all of
       | the proceeds go to pay back victims?
        
         | belltaco wrote:
         | The govt didn't buy the shares, they seized them. So it's all
         | technically profit but they probably want to reimburse the
         | scammed folks.
        
           | benjaminwootton wrote:
           | As of today, SBF hasn't been found guilty in any court of
           | law.
           | 
           | Are the government typically allowed to seize and sell your
           | assets and possibly redistribute the proceeds before you've
           | even been to court?
           | 
           | What if he needed those funds for his legal defence?
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | fatfingerd wrote:
             | AFAICT he pledged them to BlockFi to try to stop a margin
             | call, and they went bankrupt, so its just a question of
             | which bankruptcy claims they are for.
        
             | edmundsauto wrote:
             | > Are the government typically allowed to seize and sell
             | your assets and possibly redistribute the proceeds before
             | you've even been to court?
             | 
             | Yes, asset seizure is the norm for law enforcement in
             | America.
             | 
             | > What if he needed those funds for his legal defence?
             | 
             | The money is in a limbo state, as it might be proceeds from
             | crimes. The justice system doesn't want you using proceeds
             | from crimes in any way, shape or form.
        
               | JumpCrisscross wrote:
               | > _asset seizure is the norm for law enforcement in
               | America_
               | 
               | Freeze and seizure, sure. Pre-trial disposal, no. In this
               | case, the headline is being loose in that these aren't
               | Bankman-Fried the natural person's shares, they're a
               | bankrupt entity's. Selling a bankrupt entity's stuff is
               | par for the course.
        
             | freejazz wrote:
             | This has nothing to do with his criminal trial, this has to
             | do with his company filing for bankruptcy. If he didn't
             | want the gov't to auction of his companies assets in order
             | to satisfy his creditors... then he shouldn't have declared
             | bankruptcy, as that's exactly what happens in a bankruptcy
             | proceeding.
        
           | eastbound wrote:
           | What do you mean "reimburse the scammed folks"? Any holder of
           | bitcoins would receive a share of their money back?
           | 
           | Whatever the FBI is up to, it's most certainly not
           | reimbursing the customers.
        
             | urmish wrote:
             | Not the customers, but FTX lenders investors. There are
             | likely tons of lawsuits filed by them to claim their piece
             | of the govt seized assets. Its up to the govt to decide
             | whether to help customers or investors and lenders.
        
       | maerF0x0 wrote:
       | The article is scant on details, so its unclear what the money
       | would be used for...
       | 
       | But why should the Government get a $605M payday for
       | appropriating privately held assets? That sets up a dark conflict
       | of interest.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | my123 wrote:
         | It's not a payday for the government. This money will be
         | returned to creditors as part of the bankruptcy process.
        
           | RC_ITR wrote:
           | I think too many people got used to crypto's "well if the
           | software says it..." mortal/legal/ethical code.
           | 
           | They assume that traditional finance isn't a thoughtfully
           | designed system with checks and balances because they were
           | blindly railing against it before.
        
           | maerF0x0 wrote:
           | Perhaps, but the posted does not say that...
        
             | burnte wrote:
             | It also doesn't say that the shares were paid for with wire
             | transaction as opposed to physical cash in stacks of $100
             | bill, but that also is what happened. They're not going to
             | explain the common bit in every story, only the unique
             | bits. Whenever the gov't sells things in a bankruptcy or
             | fraud proceeding, the money goes to the creditors/victims,
             | and then fines.
        
             | whateverman23 wrote:
             | > Perhaps, but the posted does not say that...
             | 
             | It doesn't say the government is profiting either. You just
             | made that up.
        
               | maerF0x0 wrote:
               | Well, that piece is pretty easy to conclude. They
               | acquired it for essentially nothing.
        
               | meepmorp wrote:
               | > Well, that piece is pretty easy to conclude.
               | 
               | It's also an incorrect conclusion.
        
               | pgwhalen wrote:
               | You are missing a very obvious piece of the puzzle here:
               | assets seized by the government during bankruptcy get
               | used to offset liabilities of the bankrupt company. This
               | doesn't need to be explicitly said; it wouldn't make
               | sense for it to work any other way.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | freejazz wrote:
         | Because they declared bankruptcy - that's how bankruptcy works.
         | You declare bankruptcy, the gov't puts someone in charge of
         | managing the sale of your assets in order to reimburse your
         | creditors.
        
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       (page generated 2023-09-01 23:02 UTC)