The former head of FTX's European business, Patrick Grün, purchased the gold watch of a US millionaire who died in the Titanic disaster. He paid $1.5 million for the lot put up by the Henry Aldridge & Son auction house, WSJ writes.
Patrick Grün is a German fintech entrepreneur who headed FTX Europe in 2022. The unit operated in the region for only eight months. In March 2023, the company launched a website allowing European customers to request withdrawals.
After the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange, Gruen was involved in legal proceedings with FTX. The company tried to recover $325.5 million from the European division, spent on the acquisition of the Swiss startup Digital Assets AG (DAAG). It was on its basis that FTX Europe was created, and one of the co-founders of the project was Patrick Grün.
The dispute was subsequently settled and the company sold the European division to the previous founders for $32.7 million.
Gruen claims he did not know about the fraud of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years. He claims to have purchased the gold watch with money received from the sale of his companies. After leaving FTX, the businessman started a new business and launched a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange in Europe.
The 14-karat gold watch belonged to American real estate magnate John Jacob Astor IV, who remained aboard the sinking Titanic after putting his wife in a lifeboat. His body was discovered a week after the crash by the CS Mackay-Bennett.
The same gold watch was found with the deceased millionaire, as well as expensive cufflinks with precious stones, a diamond ring, several thousand dollars in cash and a gold pencil.
“We want people in the United States to be able to admire this historical relic,” said Patrick Gruen.
