When FTX collapsed, Sam Bankman-Fried’s penthouse in the Bahamas was put up for sale. The listing was fake
After an apparent listing for Sam Bankman-Fried’s luxury penthouse in the Bahamas quickly became known earlier this week, wealth learned the listing was fake, with the real estate company calling it a “web malfunction.” The page has since been removed and the URL now says Page Not Found.
As details about FTX’s crumbling empire emerge, including its first bankruptcy filing on Thursday, the listing is a warning sign of the spread of misinformation in the high-profile case, as well as an odd conundrum in the tight-knit world of Bahamas Real estate.
“This is unfortunate because the integrity of the industry is at stake,” said Nikki Boeuf, president of the Bahamas Real Estate Association.
The height of luxury
Sam Bankman-Fried’s penthouse is located in the Orchid Building at The Albany, a luxurious gated resort in southwest New Providence, the most populous island in the Bahamas. The Albany is one of the top properties in the country, backed by an investor group with names like Tiger Woods and complete with its own private marina, golf course, grocery store and world-class restaurants.
Amid the grand expanse, Bankman-Fried’s penthouse still made an impressive display of wealth. A 2021 Graham Real Estate Facebook listing listed it for just under $40 million, a 7,500-square-foot, five-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bath estate with a rooftop outdoor pool and lounge area.
Graham Real Estate confirmed this wealth it had sold the property but declined to name the buyer. The property was likely owned by FTX rather than Sam Bankman-Fried himself, with The Block reporting in November that a subsidiary called FTX Property Holdings spent nearly $75 million on Bahamas real estate in 2022, including over $67 million Dollars for “Businesses around Albany Bahamas”. .”
On November 13th, the popular pseudonymous Twitter account Autism Capital was launched tweeted that the property had been put up for sale again, listed by a Bahamian firm called Seaside Real Estate. The post featured many of the same photos as the 2021 listing, as well as the exact same price tag — $39,500,000.
Outlets around the world picked up the story, including The guard and braked, which launched a “rolling list of FTX property stocks coming to market” on Nov. 15. So far only the penthouse is included.
Despite the media attention, there were warning signs that the listing was fake. For one, on Nov. 10, the Securities Commission of the Bahamas froze FTX assets prior to listing, which sources familiar with the matter say would include real estate.
The grandstanda Bahamian newspaper, also reported with surprise that the property was listed by a company not based in Nassau but based in the Exuma district.
“We have no idea”
On Thursday, wealth reached Alvan Rolle, member of the Seaside management team, on the phone. He said the company never had a listing and the site was the result of a “web malfunction” that was “currently being cleaned up”.
“We don’t have a listing for them and we never had one,” he said wealth. “We weren’t even aware of the listing until it was brought to our attention.”
He added that he had never been in contact with the FTX team and that he had informed his webmaster and “the authorities” about the malfunction, although he declined to name any.
“We don’t even know the owners of the property,” he said.
Despite his claims that Seaside was unaware of the property, the page included an MLS, or Multiple Listing Service, number, a cooperative data-sharing program organized by the Bahamas Real Estate Association.
The listing has since been removed, although the Wayback Machine shows it was still active as of 1:50 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Nikki Boeuf, President of the Bahamas Real Estate Association, said the majority of sales for the Albany are still first time real estate listings coming online and being sold by the developer. A BREA representative said most resales in Albany are handled by an in-house agent, Sara Callender, and her team. Callendar declined to speak to him wealth.
Boeuf had no insight into the fake listing, although she said that “the sophistication of marketing skills among real estate companies in the Bahamas varies enormously.”
she said wealth that she would investigate the matter and contact Seaside Real Estate with possible disciplinary action, including loss of license.
“If we found he wasn’t compliant, we wouldn’t renew because we have a very strict ethics policy that all real estate agents are bound by,” she said.
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