A pair of Bahamian private jets said to be funded by a 'handshake deal' with Sam Bankman-Fried are set to be confiscated by the US government

• Prosecutors said Wednesday that two private jets linked to Sam Bankman-Fried are subject to forfeiture.
• FTX loaned a Bahamian jet charter company $28.4 million to buy the planes, Insider reported.
• The company's CEO said he had to pay millions of his own money to maintain and upgrade the planes.

Two private jets linked to Sam Bankman-Fried are set to be confiscated by the US government, according to a forfeiture bill filed Wednesday.

US Attorney Damian Williams, who leads the federal prosecution office that charged Bankman-Fried, wrote in the filing that the aircraft are "subject to forfeiture."

The planes in question are a Bombardier Global 5000 and an Embraer Legacy EMB-135BJ, which cost $15.9 million and $12.5 million respectively, according to a bankruptcy court filing.

Insider previously reported how the planes are owned by a Bahamian company called Island Air Capital, and are the center of a three-way ownership battle between IAC, the FTX Debtors, and the government.

Paul Aranha, the beneficial owner of Island Air Capital and CEO of Trans Island Airways, said in a court filing last month that Bankman-Fried agreed to loan his company $28.4 million for the jets, in a "handshake deal."

He filed a motion in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court which asked for relief from an automatic stay which prevents it from operating or selling the jets, following months of discussions with the FTX Debtors and the government.

Aranha said he had spent millions of his own money upgrading and maintaining the aircraft, as well as repaying $11 million towards the loan from FTX. But he added there was no business case to keep the Global after FTX went bankrupt. The court filing says he tried to sell the Global to help repay the loan, before the US Marshals Service seized it in February.

Then on August 7, the FTX Debtors also claimed ownership of the two planes, after holding multiple discussions with Aranha since last December, per the filing. The jets now look set to become government property.

The filing also claims Aranha is "one of the largest Bahamian victims of SBF's cryptocurrency fraud."

Bankman-Fried, nor any other FTX executives, ever flew on the Global or Embraer, a person familiar with the situation previously told Insider.

Bankman-Fried did make dozens of private jet trips with Trans Island Airways, which also operated the Cessna planes that transported FTX's Amazon packages from Florida to the Bahamas, Insider reported.

Bankman-Fried's spokesperson did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside US working hours.