Prosecutors seize SBF’s $50M deposit to small bank

Yahoo Finance (YF) reported on Jan. 24 that prosecutors had just under $50 million in FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), who was detained at Farmington State Bank on Jan. 4. was seized.

The sum seized was just $500 short of $50 million, according to YF. reportThe bank, which specializes in agricultural loans to farmers, had only three employees when SBF deposited this amount. Nor does he offer online banking services or credit cards, and his net worth was $5.7 million.

Alameda invests in Farmington

Alameda Research, SBF’s venture capital firm, invested $11.5 million in SBF in March 2022, according to the New York Times (NYT). report Published in November 2022,

Farmington has steadily amassed about $10 million in deposits over a decade, according to a NYT report. Of this increase, $71 million came from new accounts.

The bank changed its name to Moonstone Bank and began offering online banking services after FTX’s investment, according to a NYT report.

Camden Fine, former head of the independent community Bankers of America, reportedly shared his thoughts on the investment, according to the NYT report. He said:

The fact that an offshore hedge fund, essentially a cryptocurrency company, was buying the stock of a small bank at multiples of its book value is a major red flag for the FDIC, state regulators, and the Federal Reserve. It is amazing that all of these were approved.