A newly filed lawsuit has alleged that the FTX Foundation planned to use the island nation of Nauru as a safe refuge for effective altruists for “some event where 50% – 99.99% of people die.”
According to the lawsuit, filed by FTX’s current management, the plan to use the island as a giant doomsday bunker was discussed between the exchange’s former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, his brother Gabriel Bankman-Fried, and another unnamed officer of the FTX Foundation.
Specifically, the lawsuit alleged that the three were working on “a plan to purchase the sovereign nation of Nauru in order to construct a ‘bunker/shelter’ that would be used for ‘some event where 50% – 99.99% of people die.’”
The goal with the plan was allegedly to “ensure that most EAs [effective altruists] survive” a doomsday event, while also using the island nation to “develop ‘sensible regulation around human genetic enhancement.”
“Probably there are other things it’s useful to do with a sovereign country, too,” the memo cited in the lawsuit added.
Located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, Nauru is the world’s smallest island nation with just around 12,000 inhabitants.
The nation was in the late 1990s and early 2000s known as a hotspot for money laundering activities, and was sanctioned by the US Treasury department in 2003.
The nation has later taken steps to improve its international reputation, implementing stricter rules against financial crimes.
SBF known as a major donor
While leading FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried was known for his interest in effective altruism, a philosophy that aims to support the charities that are able to get the greatest results for the money they have available.
Among other things, causes Bankman-Fried have supported included global health, pandemic prevention, and climate change-related issues.
Additionally, the former FTX boss was also known as a large donor to left-leaning politicians.
However, he has later admitted that although he was very public about his donations to Democrats, he also donated to Republican politicians anonymously.
“All my Republican donations were dark,” he said shortly before his arrest late last year, adding that the reason for this was that journalists “freak the fuck out if you donate to Republicans.”
Public data indicates that Bankman-Fried was the second largest donor to the Democratic Party, after billionaire George Soros, in the 2021-2022 election cycle.
According to OpenSecrets, he donated more than $46m to candidates and groups affiliated with the Democratic Party.
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