Why Tiger Woods isn’t the biggest curiosity at Albany this week & More Trending News
Sam Bankman-Fried carried out an interview with the New York Times from the Bahamas on Wednesday.
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ALBANY, Bahamas — When it involves celeb recognizing, you possibly can do lots worse than Albany.
The Bahamas enclave — and host web site of this week’s Hero World Challenge — is a daily playground for the wealthy and well-known. Albany, self-described as “600-acre luxury resort community,” was based in 2010 by Justin Timberlake, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and billionaire businessman (and Tottenham proprietor) Joe Lewis. It’s nothing like actual life, and maybe that’s the level: it’s virtually completely an escape for A-listers. Albany is a spot the place David Beckham can run routes for Tom Brady on the seashore or the place Michael Strahan can home Jon Rahm throughout a pro-am rain delay. It’s additionally, because it seems, a spot the place the crypto world’s most needed man can lay low.
The eyes of the golf world have been educated on Albany this week due to Woods’ reappearance; he’d been out of the public eye since the Open Championship in July. At this level, Woods is used to being the most mysterious man on property. But not this week. Not with Sam Bankman-Fried, he of the fallen $16 billion crypto empire, staying proper subsequent door.
Where is SBF?
That’s the query that has been floating round property all week. New Providence is a small island and Albany is a small, uber-exclusive nook of that island. The Hero World Challenge brings the who’s-who of this little {golfing} group collectively. Many of the professionals in the 20-player discipline are staying inside the confines this week, both in their very own locations — like Woods — or in organized rental items. While Bankman-Fried’s whereabouts haven’t been confirmed (and he has quite a few properties to select from), he and a bunch of colleagues had been dwelling in a $40 million luxurious penthouse in Albany’s Orchid constructing till very not too long ago. As luck would have it, the Orchid is only a mid-iron from the golf course and a pair doorways away from the professionals in residence. In different phrases, everybody has had their eyes out.
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Most Tour professionals weren’t keen to speak about Bankman-Fried on the report, each due to the charged nature of the topic and their unfamiliarity with the specifics. But lots had been curious.
“Literally whatever you tell me, I will believe,” one professional stated.
“I’ve been literally looking for him everywhere,” stated one other.
One supply staying at Albany described seeing Bankman-Fried strolling barefoot round the property, glancing regularly over his shoulder. A professional relayed a narrative he’d heard from a well-connected pro-am participant who had been questioning aloud the place Bankman-Fried was simply moments earlier than he walked into the foyer of his luxurious rental — solely to search out Bankman-Fried standing there, “nose-to-nose.”
Perhaps we’ve made it too far for introductions, however in case some clarification would assist: Bankman-Fried is the 30-year-old founding father of the cryptocurrency alternate FTX, which was the second-largest in the world till earlier this month. Things took a sudden activate Nov. 8, when irregularities in a leaked FTX steadiness sheet triggered a “giant withdrawal surge” wherein prospects rushed to take out their cash. Long story brief, there wasn’t sufficient of it left to withdraw, and the subsequent solvency disaster despatched the firm tumbling right into a high-profile chapter. Bankman-Fried’s private internet price didn’t fare properly, both, making a record-setting drop from an estimated $10.5 billion to successfully zero in a matter of some days.
So the place does Albany are available in? Last yr, Bankman-Fried left Hong Kong and made the Bahamas FTX’s headquarters, citing its welcoming strategy to crypto and comparatively lax pandemic restrictions. That course of included practically $300 million in spending, each in close by Nassau and inside Albany’s confines, the place he purchased a number of items for use by himself and fellow workers. An estimated 100 FTX workers relocated, together with the group that lived with Bankman-Fried in his penthouse.
FTX had lengthy since barged into the sports activities world. The Miami Heat performed in FTX Arena. F1’s Mercedes group struck a sponsorship deal. In an enchantment to the firm’s obvious credibility, Major League Baseball had the FTX emblem worn by its umpires. The listing of athletes who’d endorsed the firm was lengthy and star-studded, with Tom Brady, Steph Curry, and Shaquille O’Neal amongst them. Its connections to the golf world had been decrease profile, however there was at least one endorsement: FTX signed a deal to be on the bag of LPGA professional Albane Valenzuela, whose household lives in the Bahamas.
Until this week, Bankman-Fried had been laying low; aside from a pair paparazzi-style pictures and a few telephone movies, no one had seen nor spoken with him. But on Wednesday the embattled CEO did an interview with the New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin. He’s slated to look on “Good Morning America” on Friday morning. Bankman-Fried is coming again on the grid.
In Wednesday’s interview, Bankman-Frid made it clear that FTX’s misplaced fortunes gained’t be recovered. He additionally addressed his personal funds, admitting he was down to 1 bank card and $100,000 in the financial institution.
“I don’t have any hidden funds here,” he stated.
As as to whether he may go away the Bahamas for the U.S.?
“To my knowledge, I could,” he stated.
Until he does, curiosity will proceed at Albany — all whereas the real-world implications of the FTX implosion unfold exterior its gates.
Why Tiger Woods isn’t the biggest curiosity at Albany this week
Why Tiger Woods isn’t the biggest curiosity at Albany this week
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Why Tiger Woods isn’t the biggest curiosity at Albany this week