FTX employees' other deluxe accommodation: The Conch Shack
FTX‘s dramatic implosion has all of the hallmarks of a Bond movie – a slightly wild but definitely eclectic leader, a possible harem of some kind, and the perfect location – a shiny resort in the Bahamas.
According to various tweets on the Autism Capital twitter account, employees at FTX didn't just stay in the now-notorious penthouse, but in something called the “Conch Shack”, which was apparently a “developer of Albany’s personal home”. Constance Wang, FTX's COO, is understood to have been among the residents.
Although Albany’s website doesn’t provide names for their villas, the developer confirms a property called “Conch Shack” in a 2018 article for Forbes.
The “Conch Shack” is believed to be built by Capstone Homes, a local property developer. It features four bedrooms, a theatre room, and an unknown number of swimming pools spread across over 9,000 square feet.
Our identification of the property by key markings on Google Earth indicates that it's a sea-facing villa with direct access to Albany Marina, as well as being 100 metres from the company penthouse that accommodated another 20 or so FTX employees, including Sam Bankman-Fried, in the “Orchid” building.
Bankman-Fried’s $40m penthouse has also been listed for sale by Bahamian real estate agent Seaside, as reported on twitter. It features five bedrooms, a private elevator, private garages, a spa, and "German engineered doors and windows."
The Conch Shack and the penthouse are a far cry from the ascetic image presented by Bankman-Fried and other employees who support “effective altruism” and giving money away.
The term was defined by the Centre for Effective Altruism as being “about using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis.”
While banks are known for their parsimony when it comes to perks, big tech firms have long been more generous. However, even big tech firms don't offer luxury accomodation and their perks have been reduced from free food, laundry, valet services and shuttles buses to just having a job.
A seaside villa to work in in the Bahamas (30 degrees Celsius at time of writing) seems like a much bigger perk than just having a job in San Francisco (9 degrees) or New York (4 degrees).
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