- Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX employed a "company therapist" who helped staff with dating, Vice reported.
- Psychiatrist George Lerner said he was worried staff would quit due to a lack of dating options.
Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX employed a "company therapist" who would look for "dating options" for staff at the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Vice reported.
George Lerner, a psychiatrist who worked as an "in-resident coach" for FTX in the Bahamas — where the company's headquarters are located — would often help staff with their dating lives, he told Vice over email.
Lerner told Vice that he was "very concerned" that staff, many of whom were in their 20s, would "leave the company due to lack of romantic relationships available," adding that some staff dated "within the company" which he said was "not a great idea."
Lerner said that life in the Bahamas for young FTX staff meant "limited social and entertainment choices." As a result, he was "always looking for dating options for FTX people," he told crypto advisor Margaux Avedisian, in a message reviewed by Vice.
Avedisian said Lerner was "trying to find women" for FTX workers to improve their lives in the Bahamas.
In response to Avedisian's comments, Lerner told Vice: "Dating options. Not women. We had both, male and female employees."
FTX and Lerner did not immediately respond when Insider reached out for comment.
In a now deleted profile of Bankman-Fried by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, Lerner was described as the "company therapist" whose services were available to almost everyone at FTX.
Lerner clarified to Vice that he was paid to coach at FTX for 32 hours a week and worked with around 100 employees. He helped employees with career decisions as well as navigate office drama. He also spent 12 hours maintaining a private practice where at least 20 FTX employees sought his services.
Lerner told Vice that the collapse of FTX was "devastating" and that he really felt for employees who were "like a family."
After the bankruptcy Lerner was still unsure whether he had a job at FTX as he had a working company email address, according to an interview with the New York Times.
Bankman-Fried lost 94% of his $16 billion fortune in the past week as both of his companies, trading firm Alameda Research and FTX collapsed into bankruptcy.
He ran both companies out of the Bahamas and lived with nine of his innermost circle at FTX in a penthouse, according to Coindesk. The 10-person strong group were often romantically connected, Coindesk reported, saying that at one point all 10 were romantically linked in some way.