A new report has revealed that the US government seized Anthropic shares from former FTX executives and sold them off early — shares reportedly worth between $2.6 billion and $5 billion at current valuations. The government has yet to account for the proceeds of the seized assets or return the funds to FTX creditors.

The findings were disclosed by Business Insider, which reported that two executives of the bankrupt crypto exchange forfeited their shares as part of their guilty pleas. The executives — FTX co-founder Nishad Singh and Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison — had reportedly invested in the AI company. Both pleaded guilty to fraud charges following FTX's November 2022 collapse, and forfeiture of assets tied to their crimes is a standard component of such plea agreements.

The report does not specify how much they invested. However, an FTX Historian on X claimed the two invested $50 million in exchange for a stake in the AI startup — a stake that could be worth close to $5 billion at its current valuation.

With this disclosure, Singh and Ellison join former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who invested $500 million in Anthropic in 2022. Bankman-Fried's stake was liquidated by the FTX bankruptcy estate for $1.3 billion in 2024, a move later criticized as Anthropic's valuation exploded.

US Government Sold the FTX Shares Early, Missing Out on Anthropic's Growth

Similar to the FTX bankruptcy estate, the US government also quickly sold off the Anthropic shares seized from the former executives. According to the report, the government took control of Ellison's stake in February 2025 and Singh's by April of the same year. Those shares were sold later that year to existing Anthropic investors, shortly after the government took control. The rapid disposal is consistent with how federal authorities typically handle forfeited assets: the US Marshals Service, which manages seized property, generally liquidates holdings rather than holding volatile private-company shares for potential appreciation.

It is unclear how much the US Marshals received for the stake, but experts believe the sale price would have been in the range of $250 million to $1.1 billion at the time. While this represents a sizable gain compared to the reported investment, many believe the government would have made far more had it held the shares. According to experts, the stake could now be worth between $2.6 billion and $5.03 billion — unsurprising given how sharply Anthropic's valuation has grown over the past two years. The company was valued at around $965 billion during its last fundraising round in May and has set a $2 trillion valuation target for its IPO. The episode highlights an unusual tension between criminal asset forfeiture, which prioritizes prompt liquidation and victim compensation, and the steep valuation curve of private AI companies during the current funding boom.

Proceeds of the Anthropic Share Sale Remain With the US Government

FTX creditors and victims have criticized the Department of Justice's handling of the seized assets. According to the FTX Historian, there was zero transparency about the sales: the government has not disclosed the sale price or the identity of the buyers.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear how the US government is handling the proceeds from the sale of the Anthropic shares. The DOJ typically uses forfeiture proceeds to compensate victims. Last year, it transferred $638 million to the FTX estate, the majority of which came from the sale of Bankman-Fried's Robinhood shares. The FTX estate's report also stated that it expects to receive around $400 million from the DOJ. However, Business Insider reported that there is no indication that any proceeds from the Anthropic share sales have been sent to the estate. According to experts, the government has discretion over how such funds are used.

The FTX estate has already distributed around $10 billion in repayments to creditors across five distribution rounds. However, several creditors — especially those in restricted countries — remain unpaid. Whether the Anthropic proceeds eventually flow to those still-unpaid creditors is likely to be a key point to watch as the DOJ's handling of the forfeited assets comes under further scrutiny.