FTX Team Spent $40 Million On Food, Luxury Hotels, Flights and More In 2023

Business Insider India reported that according to bankruptcy court documents reviewed by Insider, the crypto exchange FTX spent approximately $40 million in just over nine months on expenses including hotels, entertainment, and flights. 

The documents, filed by lawyers, revealed that the company’s Bahamian entity, FTX Digital Markets, generated no customer revenue but spent extravagantly. From January to September 2022, the company is reported to have spent $15.4 million on luxury hotels and accommodation.

According to bankruptcy court documents reviewed by Insider, FTX, a crypto exchange, spent a large portion of its $40 million expenditure on luxurious hotels in the Bahamas. The largest chunk of the sum, around $5.8 million, was spent at the Albany Hotel, an upscale resort with its own yacht marina and golf course. 

The former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, lived in a $30 million penthouse at the Albany until his arrest last month. In 2021, one of the Albany’s founders stated that accommodation at the resort can cost up to $60,000 per night during high season. 

The company also spent $3.6 million at the Grand Hyatt, a 4-star hotel where rooms start at $369 per night, and hosted the Caribbean reception for Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales in March 2022. Additionally, FTX spent $800,000 at the five-star Rosewood, where rooms start at $1,100 per night.

According to tech-tracking site Growjo, before filing for bankruptcy, FTX, a crypto exchange, had approximately 1,310 employees, meaning an average of nearly $12,000 per staff member was spent on hotels over a nine-month period. Insider previously reported that FTX’s sister company, Alameda, owes $55,000 to the Margaritaville beach resort founded by singer Jimmy Buffett. Resort staff stated that FTX employees stayed in around 20 suites for several months and had plans to go out on the town together. 

In addition to hotel expenses, the company also spent $6.9 million on “meals and entertainment,” with almost half of that amount going towards catering services. The largest amount, $1.4 million, was spent on catering at the Hyatt, and FTX also spent almost $1 million with a Nassau-based caterer called Six Stars Catering.

It is not clear where the rest of the money was spent. Fox Business previously reported that Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, often spent $2,500 on lunch for himself and staff at a Nassau bistro. In addition, the company spent $3.9 million on flights and over $500,000 on “postage and delivery,” which could be related to a Financial Times report stating that FTX hired private planes to transport Amazon packages from Miami to the Bahamas because the online retailer does not deliver to the island.