Riches to rags: how did Sam Bankman-Fried spend his fortune? From Bahamas properties and sponsoring sports teams, to political donations, here’s how the former crypto billionaire splashed his cash

Nov 28 , 2022

Sam Bankman-Fried had a net worth of US$26 billion at his peak in March 2022, before the downfall of his crypto empire. Photo: Bloomberg, Reuters

Sam Bankman-Fried, aka SBF, is the former CEO of infamous cryptocurrency exchange FTX before it filed for bankruptcy on November 11 – causing his net worth to drop to zero

The 30-year-old entrepreneur was a staunch believer in the effective altruism movement and made huge donations to the Democrats as well as investments in media companies and properties in the Bahamas

At his peak in March 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried aka SBF – American entrepreneur, investor and founder and former CEO of the infamous cryptocurrency exchange FTX – had a net worth of US$26 billion. However, on November 8, SBF’s net worth was estimated to have dropped 94 per cent in a day to US$991.5 million, according to Bloomberg – the largest one-day drop on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index’s history. By November 11, FTX had filed for bankruptcy and the Wall Street Journal reported that SBF’s net worth is now at zero.

But before the downfall of his crypto empire, SBF had spent his money on properties, political donations and funding sports teams.

Sam Bankman-Fried testifies during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in December 2021, in Washington DC. Photo: TNS

He told Bloomberg in April that years down the road, he’d subsist on US$100,000 a year – that’s it. He’d keep a small percentage of the billions he had generated from his cryptocurrency empire and donate the rest.

SBF billed himself as an effective altruist, a person who would rack up stacks of money – or coins – to one day put it all towards the betterment of the world. And he donated money to several organisations founded on the principles of effective altruism.

However, SBF also wrote out big checks to sports teams, properties and political leaders. His spending has reflected a desire to buy influence as much as it has reflected his philosophical beliefs.

In early November, SBF saw the bulk of his net worth drop from US$15.6 billion to US$1 billion in a single day, after news broke that his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, needed a bailout.

Representations of cryptocurrencies are seen in front of displayed FTX logo in this illustration taken November 10. Photo: Reuters

Since then, FTX has filed for bankruptcy and SBF has stepped down as CEO. Still, a barrage of secrets continues to emerge about the messy dynamics between FTX, SBF’s trading firm Alameda Research, and the way he leveraged both to make risky bets with customers’ funds.

SBF is likely to not be making major donations any time soon, but here’s a list of how he spent some of his once-massive fortune.