Sam Bankman-Fried looks down 25 years later bit, most of his former FTX colleagues did their best to stay out of the spotlight. But a former executive at a collapsed cryptocurrency exchange is now raising eyebrows over his massive purchases.
Former FTX Europe head Patrick Gruhn reportedly spent $1.5 million to purchase a gold watch recently found on the body of a Titanic victim. wall street journal. The watch originally belonged to American businessman John Jacob Astor, who was considered the wealthiest passenger on the 1912 transatlantic voyage.
Grun said. newspaper He bought the watch as a gift for his wife because he felt a kinship with the Astor family, who had set out from Germany to seek fortune in America in the 18th century. John Jacob Astor, the founder of the family dynasty, made his fortune by establishing a monopoly in the North American fur trade, smuggling his opium to China, and buying up cheap real estate in New York.
Like the late businessman who now owns the watch, FTX’s Gruhn was born in Germany and settled in the United States. He, too, made a fortune but came under considerable legal scrutiny.
In November 2021, FTX spent $376 million to acquire a Swiss cryptocurrency company run by Gruhn and his business partners (which became FTX Europe).
According to lawsuit Although FTX later filed with bankruptcy, the company was not yet operational and boasted only a “business plan.” Additionally, FTX lawyers did not complete due diligence on Gruhn’s company before the acquisition was completed.
According to the same lawsuit, over the next two years, Grun sent more than $4 million from FTX Europe to Kephas, a company he owns, in return for unspecified consulting services.
During the same period, according to the FTX lawsuit, Gruhn used Kephas to purchase a $146,000 custom bulletproof Cadillac Escalade. He also used the company’s funds to pay the salaries of a butler, a full-time cook, a housekeeper, and several estate managers, all of whom worked on his 700-acre private home in La Pine, Oregon.
The lawsuit, filed last summer, seeks to force Gruhn and his partners to repay huge sums they received from FTX (allegedly embezzled FTX customer funds). After Gruhn and his partner filed a counterclaim, the two sides stable But in February, the former heads of FTX Europe agreed to buy the company back for about $33 million.
Gruhn continues to reside in Oregon, where he purchased eight properties during his time leading FTX Europe. According to reports, he is currently building a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange in Europe and runs a Catholic television network in Germany.
Editor: Andrew Hayward