SAM TRABUCCO has dodged much of the blame for the FTX scandal.
The former CEO of Alameda Research – FTX’s sister company – and friend of Sam Bankman Fried disappeared from the crypto scene just months before the saga unravelled.
But who is the man who ran Alameda Research and what is his net worth?
Who is Sam Trabucco?
Sam Trabucco was one of Sam Bankman Fried’s closest friends and business associates.
The pair first met was a five week maths camp at Mount Holyoke College in 2010 when they were both still teenagers.
Their paths then crossed again when they both were accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While Trabucco studied mathematics and computer science in 2015, Bankman Fried graduated with a degree in physics and a minor in mathematics.
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Upon graduating, Trabucco interned at the investment firm Susquehanna International Group, before being made a full time employee.
He spent just over two years learning the ropes as a quant trader before reuniting with his old university pal.
In March 2019 Trabucco joined Alameda Research – a crypto trading firm that had been founded by Bankman Fried in 2017 – as a trader before taking on the role of co-CEO in August 2021.
He was appointed to the top job alongside Caroline Ellison.
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Execs at Alameda ran the trading firm – along with Bankman Fried’s other companies including FTX – while all living together in a $40million penthouse in the Bahamas.
While at the helm, Trabucco was credited with overseeing an explosion in Alameda’s growth.
The young tech executive transformed the company from a relatively low-profit market trader into a crypto giant worth over $14billion.
The 30-year-old has admitted he often used gambling strategies to inform his trading agenda.
“Bigger is Bigger (when Betting is Better),” Trabucco wrote on Twitter on January 12, 2021.
“Getting it in good is a poker term referring to the idea that, when your odds are best… you wanna bet more.”
He also started making the firm big money after placing large scale bets on tokens such as Dogecoin after noticing its price went up whenever Elon Musk tweeted about the meme coin.
Despite his apparent success, in August 2022, Trabucco announced he was stepping down as co-CEO of Alameda.
While it is now clear that Bankman Fried’s crypto empire was already suffering from money problems at this point, to everyone on the outside, the resignation came while Alameda was still a booming firm.
“I will stay on as an advisor, but otherwise will not continue to have a strong day-to-day presence at the company,” he wrote on Twitter announcing the end of his tenure at the top of the company.
“Over the past few months, I have significantly reduced my role at Alameda. This happened gradually, and has most recently involved a lot of time not really working at all — and certainly not acting as the company’s CEO.
“The reason for that is pretty simple — I can’t personally continue to justify the time investment of being a central part of Alameda. Everyone works really hard here, and spending a “normal” amount of time at work is tricky — especially when you’re trying to be a leader.”
His resignation came just three months before the FTX/Alameda scandal unravelled.
It emerged Alameda had been hard hit by the crypto crash following the collapse of LUNA in May and trading firm had been kept afloat by Bankman Fried borrowing money from customers of FTX and transferring the funds to its sister company.
It is unclear how much Trabucco knew about the financial wrongdoing.
In November 2022 Alameda was declared bankrupt and shut down.
What is Sam Trabucco’s net worth?
Sam Trabucco is estimated to have a net worth of $500million.
Shortly before he quit his role at Alameda he made a number of major spending investments.
In June this year he bought two luxury apartments for $8.7million. He made the purchases in cash.
He also used some of his money to buy a boat named “Soak My Deck”.
Trabucco’s 52ft superyacht was bought brand new after only being built in 2022 and was registered with the US coast guard on November 8.
Confirming his boat purchase when he stood down from Alameda, he wrote on social media: “I’ve been really happy, spending a lot of time traveling, visiting friends and family, working on ‘myself’ and whatnot.
“Also I bought a boat, that’s been cool. I needed to relax, and I’m really, really happy.”