The Nauru Ring Road runs around the island nation of Nauru.
(C) Hadi Zaher | Moments | Getty Images
A lawsuit filed in Delaware bankruptcy court has revealed that the brother of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former top lobbyist for the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was considering buying the Pacific island nation of Nauru to create a post-apocalyptic fortress bunker-state.
Gabe Bankman-Fried was considering buying Nauru “with 50% to 99.99% of the population dying” to protect his philanthropic allies and create a genetically enhanced human race, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell, which is seeking billions of dollars in recovery after the FTX bankruptcy.
Bunker life is well documented fixation Among tech billionaires, especially those who consider themselves preparing for the apocalypse. There are also attractions in buying large properties in the Pacific. owns a small island there.
During his years running FTX, Bankman-Fried promoted a philanthropic lifestyle that included: effective altruism With that in mind we created the philanthropy department. Adherents of effective altruism strive to maximize their income so that they can donate money in ways that are most beneficial to humanity.
Gabe Bankman-Fried was FTX’s most visible presence in Washington, D.C., responsible for bipartisan charitable giving that amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. He, along with FTX’s anonymous philanthropic director, considered buying Nauru with the aim of promoting “wise regulation of human genetic enhancement” and building a research lab there.
A Nauru representative confirmed that the island nation is not and has never been for sale.
Nauru has a population of about 12,000 and is just over 3,100 miles from Brisbane, Australia. It was there, FTX lawyers allege, that the Bankman-Fried team sought to set up an emergency base for themselves and “EA,” a select group of talented altruists.
In addition to its role as a haven during the apocalypse, “working with sovereign nations probably serves other purposes,” according to a memo with a young Bankman-Fried and philanthropy adviser, which is included in the complaint.
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