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Fallen crypto king SBF’s penthouse listing was fake: report

Much like Sam Bankman-Fried’s business, the listing of the Bahamian property wasn’t real

Sam Bankman-Fried’s and fake penthouse listing (Getty, Internet Archive)
Sam Bankman-Fried’s and fake penthouse listing (Getty, Internet Archive)

Even real estate listings attached to Sam Bankman-Fried are suspect.

The $39.5 million listing of the luxe Bahamian penthouse owned by the crypto entrepreneur at the epicenter of the multibillion-dollar FTX scandal turned out to be a sham, Fortune reported.

The listing, which was first reported in a tweet from the Twitter account Autism Capital on Nov. 13, named Seaside Bahamas as the real estate agent.

The tweet — which says, “Sam’s penthouse ‘The Orchid’ in the Albany exclusive community is now listed on the market for sale — $39.5 million” — also includes a link to the listing on Seaside’s website as well as photos of the penthouse. News outlets from all over the world picked up the tweet.

But Seaside subsequently said the listing was the result of “a web malfunction,” and the link shows a “Page not found” message, Fortune reported.

“We don’t have a listing for them and we never did,” Alvan Rolle, a member of the Seaside management team, told Fortune. “We didn’t even know about the listing until it was brought to our attention.”

Despite that claim, the listing included a multiple listing service number, the Bahamas Real Estate Association’s cooperative data exchange program, the outlet reported. A BREA representative said she would investigate the incident, which could subject Seaside to discipline.

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The 7,500-square-foot, five-bedroom penthouse, which reportedly also served as Bankman-Fried’s workplace, is located in the building of The Albany, a gated resort in New Providence, the most populous island of the Bahamas. The resort, which has its own private marina, grocery store and other amenities, is backed by an investor group that includes Tiger Woods, the outlet reported.

The penthouse has seven-and-a-half baths, a rooftop pool and lounge area, Fortune said In 2021, the penthouse was listed for the same price – $39.5 million – by Graham Real Estate, which declined to identify who the buyer was.

Evidence suggests that FTX, not Bankman-Fried, likely owned it, Fortune said.

Bankman-Fried has suffered a swift and stunning fall amid the collapse of the FTX, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange. In addition to having drawn the attention of multiple governmental agencies, Bankman-Friend is estimated to have lost upwards of $16 billion virtually overnight.

The fallout from the bankruptcy will be enormous, with some estimates pegging the number of FTX creditors at 1 million.

Bankman-Fried recently told Vox that he regretted filing for bankruptcy and he was critical of regulators, whom he had previously courted prior to FTX’s collapse.

FTX, in an emergency court filing Thursday, said there is evidence that after the bankruptcy filing, Bankman-Fried transferred FTX assets to the Bahamian government, CNBC reported.

— Ted Glanzer

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CrimeCryptocurrencyFraud