FTX collapse: Inside Sam Bankman-Fried's luxe $40 million Bahamas bunker
The exclusive Albany Resort, home to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, is walled off from the rest of the world
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FIRST ON FOX: After allegedly fleecing up to a million investors for billions of dollars around the globe, fallen FTX crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried is hiding out inside an ultra-luxe Bahamas resort, behind concrete walls and guarded checkpoints, a world apart from his clients as they scramble to recover lost assets.
The Albany Resort southwest of Nassau covers 600 waterfront acres, with a "rare collection of amenities" that make it, according to the brochure, "a quiet island getaway, sportsperson's paradise, elegant retreat and genuine community."
It’s where the ultra wealthy go to enjoy a tropical paradise without interruptions from regular people.
Inside the exclusive compound, which is sealed off from the public and has guards at entrances by land and sea, members from around the world travel palm tree-lined roads in golf carts as workers maintain the yachts, the landscaping and the businesses inside.
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Sam Bankman-Fried's $40 million penthouse is the crown jewel of the Orchid, named for it's "custom-made orchid cutout facade," which Albany's website says was inspired by the French Quarter in New Orleans. (Fox News Digital / Fox News)
Bankman-Fried’s $40 million penthouse tops the Orchid building, the southernmost tower on the Albany mega yacht marina’s west side. The six-story structure is shaped like a yacht itself, facing south, toward the sea, and maintenance fees were listed at more than $20,000.
On the lawn, there is a copy of Wall Street’s Charging Bull statue — cast by the original’s creator Arturo Di Modica and purchased by Joe Lewis, a billionaire co-owner of Albany who, according to the artist’s New York Times obituary, also bought the New York City sculpture on the condition it never be moved from its position at the Bowling Green park on Broadway.
Albany co-owner Joe Lewis reportedly purchased several replicas of Wall Street's Charging Bull statue, all made by the original artist – including this one just steps away from Sam Bankman-Fried's $40 million penthouse. (Fox News Digital / Fox News)
Steps away, at a beach house overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, is a replica of the Fearless Girl sculpture that was famously dropped off in front of the bull in 2017 as part of a marketing campaign.
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General view of the statue of Fearless Girl at the the Albany Resort in, Nassau, Bahamas Friday, November 19, 2022. (AJ Skuy for Fox News Digital / Fox News)
The resort includes a mega-yacht marina, a private school and a golf course designed by co-owner Ernie Els. In fact, the Albany is hosting the Hero World Challenge tournament there from Dec. 1 to 4 to benefit the Tiger Woods Foundation.
The hotel inside is open to members only with rooms beginning at $5,100 a night.
There are bars, lounges, restaurants and even a bodega inside, stocked with household supplies, organic food and alcohol.
A map shows Albany's amenities and other areas of interest. (Fox News Digital / Fox News)
Residents can order special delivery Whole Foods Market groceries, which are delivered to Fort Lauderdale and transported inside the Albany once a week, according to the grocer's website.
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Green spaces include seven trails, for pedestrians, equestrians and cyclists, in addition to golf cart lanes, private roads and rows of multimillion-dollar housing. There's a dog park, an equestrian center, a Rolex store and other high-end boutiques alongside the marina.
Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and chief executive officer of FTX, in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (Lam Yik/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Fox News)
Forbes in 2019 called the Albany community "one of the most exclusive resorts in the world." Its ownership group includes Justin Timberlake the golfers Tiger Woods and Ernie Els and the billionaire British financier Joe Lewis.
Els designed the world-class golf course on the property. There are also pools tennis courts, a gym and spa, in addition to a small private theater and CrossFit training center.
It's golf cart parking only outside Sam Bankman-Fried's $40 million penthouse in the exclusive Albany Resort on New Providence Island in the Bahamas. (Fox News Digital / Fox News)
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Bankman-Fried purchased additional condo units for another $32 million over the last several years, according to Reuters — bringing his Bahamas real estate holdings to at least 19 properties for around $121 million.
Bankman-Fried ignored questions from Fox News Digital about whether his purchases on New Providence Island were paid for with customer assets.
The Atlantic Ocean is about 100 yards from Sam Bankman-Fried's $40 million penthouse. (Fox News Digital / Fox News)
A handful of inner-circle executives lived with Bankman-Fried in Orchid Penthouse 6, which features a rooftop pool and a walk-around balcony with views of the water on three sides. According to prior real estate listings, it has five bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms and a full-sized bar.
A man prepares the balcony of Sam Bankman-Fried's penthouse in the Bahamas ahead of a storm on Monday, November 22, 2022. (AJ Skuy for Fox News Digital / Fox News)
John Ray, who was appointed FTX CEO after Bankman-Fried revealed his financial troubles, filed for bankruptcy and resigned, said in court filings that FTX and its dozens of sister companies lacked functional accounting and human resources departments, and Bankman-Fried had received a $1 billion personal loan from one of his own firms.
Pristine Atlantic Ocean water is just a short walk down a palm tree-lined path. (Fox News Digital / Fox News)
"Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here," he wrote, after noting twice he had worked on Enron's collapse, in a court filing this week. "From compromised systems integrity and faulty regulatory oversight abroad, to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented."
At a hearing Tuesday, lawyers revealed that the Justice Department has also opened an investigation into FTX hacking attempts and a "substantial" amount of the firm's assets that have gone missing.
SCROLL TO SEE SOME OF THE ALBANY'S BIGGEST YACHTS:
The Lady Joy docked at the Albany Marina on New Providence Island, Bahamas. | Fox News
FTX lawyers noted that the company, under its previous management, shelled out roughly $300 million on Bahamas real estate used by executives, and the company currently owes its largest 50 creditors more than $3 billion.
A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried's parents, Stanford University law professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, told Reuters this week the couple was looking "to return the deed" to a nearby Old Fort Bay property to FTX following the bankruptcy. Old Fort Bay is a separate gated community, where Bankman-Fried's parents were listed as signatories on property purchased with FTX funds, according to the Reuters report.
General view of The Albany Penthouse, and surrounds in Nassau, Bahamas Friday, November 19, 2022. (AJ Skuy for Fox News Digital / Fox News)
The parents were spotted with their son and several other individuals on Bankman-Fried's penthouse balcony Monday afternoon, a day after neighbors told Fox News Digital the former FTX CEO had hunkered down inside and barely come out since his company filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.
Bankman-Fried's Albany expenses come in addition to lavish spending on U.S. political campaign contributions, catering for his employees, to the tune of $10,000 a day from local restaurants, and a $60 million empty plot that was supposed to be FTX's new headquarters. Despite breaking ground on the project earlier this year, it is nothing but a fenced off patch of weeds next to the ocean.
General view of the entrance to the Albany resort in the Bahamas, Thursday, November 17, 2022. (The Mega Agency for Fox News Digital / Fox News)
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Bankman-Fried donated almost $40 million to Democrats in 2021 and 2022, according to the Federal Election Commission, and also about $260,000 to Republican candidates.
Across the Bahamas, his millions of dollars in donations to local charities and the islands' government prompted local media to report his "tentacles stretched far" across the archipelago.
Fox News' Breck Dumas, Thomas Catenacci and Greg Norman contributed to this report.