[imagesource: Seaside Real Estate]

It’s said that every day on Twitter there is one main character, and the aim is never to be that character.

In the case of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the now disgraced founder and former CEO of crypto exchange platform FTX, his day is extending into weeks and the infamy shows no sign of slowing down.

Once heralded as crypto’s dark knight, it’s now become painfully clear that SBF had no interest in running FTX as a legitimate business.

Yesterday, in the company’s first Chapter 11 bankruptcy hearing, restructuring attorney James Bromley said that a “substantial amount” of assets have been stolen or are missing, reports CNN. Bromley also described the network of FTX entities as an international organisation “run effectively as a personal fiefdom of SBF”.

A new report in The New York Post says that at SBF’s $40 million property (some reports state it cost ‘just’ $30 million) on the Bahamian island of New Providence, “financial renegades dropped speed, blithely swapped in and out of relationships with one another, and watched their boss play video games while pitching for a billion-dollar investment”:

…the group pulled all-nighters while high on amphetamines at their retreat — which boasted six bedrooms, two elevators, manicured grounds, a golf course and a boat basin packed with super yachts…

On an island paradise of moneyed traditionalists, SBF and some of his employees led a life allegedly fueled by drugs, vegetarian food and open sexuality.

Image: Seaside Real Estate

“Stimulants when you wake up, sleeping pills if you need them when you sleep” — that was the formula for FTX’s success, according to a tweet from Bankman-Fried.

SBF’s former girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, served as CEO of Alameda Research.

The company stands accused of improper use of funds and Ellison has hinted at drug use in the past on social media.

One of her posts has also attracted a great deal of attention, where she said “the only acceptable style of poly is best characterized as something like ‘imperial Chinese harem’”.

‘Poly’ is short for polyamory, a type of open or non-monogamous relationship where people have multiple romantic relationships at the same time. What you do in your spare time is your business, until your company unravels and people lose billions.

More damning words from Bromley in court yesterday via the BBC:

He also claimed Mr Bankman-Fried’s team spent roughly $300m on holiday homes and property for senior staff.

Only now do we realise that “the emperor had no clothes,” Bromley said, describing the situation as “one of most abrupt and difficult collapses in the history of corporate America.”

There’s also some truly damning reporting on SBF and his lifestyle on Fortune, likening him to Bernie Madoff and “living a pampered life where employees ordered toenail clippers on-demand”.

That doesn’t sound all that extravagant, even though the order was made via Slack.

Anyway, if you want to dig deeper into the excesses of it all, you can do so here.

[sources:cnn&nypost&bbc]