According to a recent report, a luxury jet intended to transport multiple executives, including crypto platform FTX cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried, to and from the Bahamas has been turned over to U.S. authorities. The jet was scheduled to transport the executives before the crypto platform went bankrupt.
Papers filed by federal prosecutors on Friday, March 22, stated that the Embraer Legacy EMB-135BJ was being flown from the Bahamas to Florida, where it would ultimately be surrendered to law enforcement. According to reports, U.S. marshals had already seized a second jet that was supposed to be used by FTX. Authorities were reported to be actively seeking court permission to sell both jets.
A Bahamian charter subject to an ownership dispute in the bankruptcy of FTX had reportedly held the Legacy. According to the founder of Trans Island Airways, Paul Aranha, who stated in a sworn testimony in 2023, he acquired the aircraft as part of a handshake deal with Bankman-Fried and financing from FTX.
A spokesman for FTX stated that the company’s advisors worked intimately with the United States government and the agreement to return the Legacy. The jet is the second aircraft purchased with corporate funds recovered during the Chapter 11 case.
Aranha said that in 2021, roughly one year before FTX filed Chapter 11, he began flying Bankman-Fried to and from the Bahamas. According to a report from Bloomberg News, Bankman-Fried routinely traveled by private jet between the Bahamas, Washington, and New York the year before FTX filed for bankruptcy.
In a September court filing, it was stated that from October 2021, Aranha’s private charter business provided more than $15 million worth of cargo flights, private charters, and several other services to Bankman-Fried and many other FTX executives, including employees, as well as their friends and families. The court papers say that the volume of flights requested by January 2022 required additional aircraft, which Aranha was determined to have acquired with financing from FTX.
Furthermore, Aranha stated that no one associated with FTX has ever been on board either of the jets, which include the Legacy and the second jet, a Bombardier Global 5000BD-700-1A11. This is because when FTX collapsed in November 2022, various upgrades, such as state-of-the-art Wi-Fi and new interiors—all requested by FTX—were still being worked on. As a result, neither Bankman-Fried nor any of his executives ever had the chance to enjoy the comforts of the Global or the Legacy.
Following the seizure of the jets, federal authorities reportedly agreed to compensate Aranha and his companies. The expenses that Aranha and his companies will be reimbursed for include maintenance costs incurred before the aircraft was seized and all expenses associated with transporting the Legacy to the United States.
According to official court papers, the Legacy is to be delivered to the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport in Florida, but no further details have been provided at this time.
