Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX and its founder’s parents have purchased properties for almost $121 million in the Bahamas, according to a media report. Some of these were supposed to be used by the company’s senior executives, quoted documents have revealed.
Bankman-Fried’s Parents Trying to Return Vacation Home to FTX
FTX, the parents of its founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), and top executives of the insolvent cryptocurrency exchange have bought at least 19 properties worth nearly $121 million in the Bahamas over the past two years, Reuters reported, citing property records.
Among the purchases were luxury beachfront homes, including seven condominiums in an expensive resort community called Albany, costing almost $72 million, the news agency detailed. These were acquired by an FTX unit and were to be used as “residence for key personnel,” the documents indicate.
The deeds for another property with beach access, located in an Old Fort Bay gated community, show Bankman-Fried’s parents as signatories. According to one of the documents dated June 15, it was meant for use as a “vacation home.”
Responding to a query from Reuters, a spokesperson for the couple, Stanford University law professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, said they had been trying to return the property to FTX since before the bankruptcy proceedings, adding without elaborating that they are awaiting further instructions.
The Bahamas-headquartered FTX, one of the world’s largest digital asset exchanges, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. on Nov. 11. The company was placed under voluntary administration, and lost its licenses in multiple jurisdictions while SBF resigned as chief executive.
Authorities, from Japan to Turkey, have launched investigations into its recent collapse, which followed a rush of withdrawals earlier in November, reportedly leaving a million creditors with combined losses in the billions of dollars.
Some of the Bahamas Properties Purchased by Recently Fired FTX Executives
Reuters has based its investigation on property records at the Bahamas Registrar General’s Department for FTX, Bankman-Fried, his parents, and some of the exchange’s key executives. Among them are the deeds for three condominiums at a beachfront residence in New Providence called One Cable Beach, that cost between $950,000 and $2 million and were bought by Bankman-Fried, Nishad Singh, former head of engineering at FTX, and FTX co-founder Gary Wang.
Singh and Wang, who along with other implicated individuals did not comment, were among the FTX high-ranking executives recently fired by the company’s current management. The property records for the most expensive real estate purchase, a $30-million penthouse at the Albany resort, were signed by the President of FTX Property, Ryan Salame.
In a U.S. court filing with the District of Delaware bankruptcy court, the new CEO of FTX, John Ray, said he understood that corporate funds of the FTX Group were used to “purchase homes and other personal items for employees and advisors.” The FTX headquarters in the Bahamas is now unoccupied, the report added.
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