Business & Finance
Feds quietly liquidated Anthropic shares seized from Sam Bankman-Fried associates
Ownership of shares belonging to Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh was transferred to the government last year, but the sale details and final destination of the funds remain opaque.
The short version
- The federal government seized Anthropic shares belonging to Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh following their convictions as part of the Sam Bankman-Fried prosecution.
- The U.S. Marshals Service quietly sold the shares to existing Anthropic investors last year, but has declined to disclose the sale price, buyers, or exact timing.
- It remains uncertain whether the proceeds from the sale will be distributed to FTX victims through a Justice Department remission process or kept by the government to cover prosecution costs.
Key facts
- Sam Bankman-Fried's associates Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh invested $10 million and $40 million respectively in Anthropic's 2022 Series B funding round.[Business Insider]
- A federal judge ordered Ellison and Singh to forfeit their Anthropic shares as part of their sentences, transferring ownership to the U.S. government in early 2025.[Business Insider]
- The U.S. Marshals Service sold the forfeited shares to existing Anthropic investors last year.[Business Insider]
- Bankman-Fried's own separate Anthropic stake was liquidated in 2024 through bankruptcy court for $1.3 billion to pay FTX creditors.[Business Insider]
What remains uncertain
- The exact timing, buyer identities, and sale price of the seized shares are unknown, though analyst estimates of their 2025 value range from $250 million to $1.1 billion depending on when the sale occurred.[Business Insider]
- It is unclear whether the Justice Department will distribute the proceeds to FTX victims or retain the funds to cover its own prosecution costs.[Business Insider]