An FTX unit, founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents and FTX executives reportedly bought at least 19 properties in the Bahamas in the last two years, worth around $121 million.
FTX Property Holdings Ltd, a unit of the collapsed currency exchange, went on a buying spree beginning last year, purchasing 15 properties on the island worth almost $100 million, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing property records.
The most expensive deal made by the FTX offshoot was a $30 million penthouse in a luxury resort called Albany, signed by the president of FTX Property, Ryan Salame.
The unit also bought several condominiums in Albany, while Nishad Singh, FTX’s former head of engineering, co-founder Gary Wang, and Bankman-Fried bought three apartments at One Cable Beach and a beachfront residence in New Providence.
The deeds for the luxury beach homes say they were used for “residence for key personnel” of FTX.
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FTX’s new CEO John Ray III recently said in a U.S bankruptcy court filing in the District of Delaware earlier this month that he understood that corporate funds of the FTX Group were used to “purchase homes and other personal items for employees and advisors.”
drone bird view of exuma in the bahamas
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FTX Property also spent $8.55 million on a group of houses to serve as FTX’s office headquarters and $4.5 million on an almost 5-acre plot of land that was supposedly set to be developed into offices. Both spaces are now vacant.
The report also revealed the parents of the failed FTX founder Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried were signatories of a beach accessible property in Old Fort Bay, which according to the documents dated Jun. 15, is used as a vacation home.
A spokesman for his parents, both Stanford University professors, told Reuters that they have been attempting to return the property to FTX, but did not answer how the property was purchased.
“Since before the bankruptcy proceedings, Mr. Bankman and Ms. Fried have been seeking to return the deed to the company and are awaiting further instructions,” they told the news agency.
FTX is incorporated in Antigua and Barbuda, and is headquartered in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas.
The bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange was previously headquartered in Hong Kong until Bankman-Fried moved the company to the Bahamas in September 2021.