The founder of failed crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman Fried (SBF), has become controversial in the crypto space. In a recent report by Rolling Stone, reporter Tracy Wang looked at his $40 million penthouse in his former home in the Bahamas.
Sam Bankman Fried Life In The Tiger Wood Own Condo Bankman Fried’s home was located in the marina of Albany, Bahamas, the report claims. The property was one of the many built-in private luxury condominiums owned by golf legend Tiger Woods and pop singer Justin Timberlake.
Wang visited the luxury complex, which also operated as living quarters for some of FTX’s staff, two months before the company went bankrupt. At that time, Sam Bankman Fried was still a champion for the industry and a poster boy for “effective altruism” and the “next Warren Buffer,” as the report stated.
The report met with SBF at a luxury restaurant in the Bahamas where “avocado toast runs $22” and was left to pick up the tab. On the crypto founder’s luxury life, Wang claims that it could shift from that of a billionaire to that of an undergrad student:
Bankman-Fried’s lifestyle was luxurious, but it didn’t fit the image of the Lamborghini-driving exchange founder (…) Bankman-Fried and his nine roommates could’ve had a private chef — and they did, a corporate chef catered meals to the office — but their home freezer was stuffed with Trader Joe’s $2.99 microwavable vegetable biryani, flown in from Miami.
The report points out that life at the luxury condo was isolated, so the company purchased additional units to host visitors and staff’s friends. In addition, the reporter witnessed the unusual working hours of the executives and the way personal lives mixed with the work environment:
(I saw no evidence of a “polycule,” a network of polyamorous relationships, which some media reports speculated had occurred at FTX.) In all, it was a company led by an executive who seemed to thrive off of blurred lines and the lack of boundaries: social, professional, and romantic.
Under the new FTX administration, led by John Ray III, the company is trying to recover assets to make its creditors whole. The trading venue filed for bankruptcy in late 2022 after a crash in the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies led to a bank run on the platform.
The crypto exchange was allegedly co-mingling its customers’ assets with that of its trading arm, Alameda Research. SBF is set to stand trial for fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
In months, the crypto founder went from living in a $40 million penthouse to possibly spending over a century in a US prison if he is convicted of the charges.
BTC’s price trends sideways on the daily chart. Source: BTCUSDT on Tradingview Cover image from Unsplash, chart from Tradingview
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Reynaldo Marquez As an editor at NewsBTC, Reynaldo is an experienced journalist passionate about all things crypto. Reynaldo has interviewed key industry leaders, and created unique pieces analyzing the promise of crypto as the next frontier for an economic and social transformation of humanity. Since 2018, he has been at the forefront of the industry, closely following every major development and analyzing critical events at the heart of the crypto industry. With a keen eye for detail and an unwavering commitment to excellence, Reynaldo has been instrumental in bringing the latest news and insights to the crypto community. Outside of work, Reynaldo enjoys lifting weights and literature, which he believes gives him a unique perspective into the world of crypto. As an aspiring trader, he is always looking for new opportunities to explore and believes that crypto holds the key to unlocking the future of finance.