I’m a corporate fraud investigator. You wouldn’t believe the hubris of the super-rich

I’m a corporate fraud investigator. You wouldn’t believe the hubris of the super-rich

While the fraudsters I’ve encountered are often cunning, sooner or later they get carried away

FTX’s HQ, we now know, was not your typical one. CEO Sam Bankman-Fried ran his business from a $40m Bahamian penthouse named the Orchid, complete with Venetian plaster walls and a grand piano. The lot was nestled beside a championship golf course and a mega-yacht marina. Since Amazon doesn’t deliver to the Bahamas, private jets did the job instead.

It wasn’t your typical corporate HQ – but then, FTX is not your typical corporation. It’s bankrupt, dragged down by its own financial abuses, with its chief executive facing prison. Yet while FTX has made headlines, its tale is not as unusual as you might think.

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