The founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, his family and top executives have purchased at least 22 real estate in the past two years in Bahamas. The properties are valued at approximately 121 million dollars (almost 121 million reais) and include seven luxury condos and ocean view homes , as revealed by the Reuters news agency this Tuesday (22).
The properties would have been purchased by a unit of the bankrupt brokerage of the United States with the objective of being used as a “residence for key people” of the company. However, at least one of the homes, with access to the Old Fort Bay beach, was used as a vacation home by Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents, Stanford University law professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried. Currently, Bankman-Fried’s parents “are trying to return the house to the company”, as an FTX spokesperson says.
The purchase of these properties is disclosed 11 days after FTX filed for bankruptcy in the United States, following liquidity problems for the company. The young founder of the company tendered his leadership resignation.
FTX became the third largest cryptocurrency brokerage in the world, it was worth about US$ 226 billion this year. The company’s growth took its owner, the young Sam Bankman-Fried, to the position of one of the biggest billionaires in the world, a status that he quickly lost.
In the first half of the year, with the increase of interest rates in the world (which negatively impacts risk assets, such as cryptocurrencies), the owner of FTX started to intervene to save other companies, lending money.
One of the companies that received money from FTX was Alameda Research – belonging to Bankman-Fried himself, who received billions in FTT (the FTX token, a kind of official currency of the platform). Experts point out that, even though the businesses should have been separated, the executive used the resources of the clients that were deposited in the brokerage to save the Alameda operation.
When this illegal transaction came to light, the brokerage customers started a race to withdraw funds, afraid of losing their deposits. Not having enough dollars to pay for all the withdrawals, FTX went bankrupt.
FTX’s largest creditors have receivables ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a court document filed in recent days.
The document shows that, of the approximately 1 million creditors of FTX, the largest single claim is US$ 226 million and the second is US$ 203 million. The identities of these creditors are not identified, but collectively they owe approximately US$3.1 billion.
“The list of 50 main creditors is based on available debtor information, including customer information that could be viewed but is not currently accessible,” says the document, prepared by bankruptcy lawyers.
“The investigation of the main creditors debtors continues for the amounts listed, including payments that may have been made but are not yet reflected in the books and records. Debtors are also working to gain full access to customer data.”
