A New York oil dynasty that was a customer of the legendary fraudster Bernard Madoff and missing billions in the demise of Enron has been embroiled in the collapse of FTX, according to court documents.

Investment decision corporations for the Belfer relatives, whose name sits previously mentioned galleries at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Artwork, had been provided in a record of shareholders of the cryptocurrency trade FTX and its US business that were launched in court files this week.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been accused by US prosecutors of orchestrating “one of the most significant money frauds in American history”, drawing comparisons to the Ponzi scheme architect Madoff and sprawling personal bankruptcy of Enron, which sank amid fraud allegations. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty.

The Belfer loved ones, one of Enron’s major shareholders, shed all-around $2bn in the company’s collapse, according to estimates at the time. The family’s patriarch, Robert Belfer, performed a substantial-profile purpose as a extended-serving member of Enron’s board of directors for numerous decades until 2002. Quite a few relatives foundations and organizations also invested with Madoff’s sham expenditure business.

A representative for Belfer’s spouse and children office, Belfer Administration, run by Robert’s son Laurence Belfer, mentioned the family members does not give interviews and declined to remark. Robert Belfer reported in 2011: “Needless to say, Enron was a painful experience” and that the financial losses experienced forced the family members to cut down the scale of its providing.

The ability of FTX to woo the wealthy New York relatives provides a clean sign of how significantly Bankman-Fried had penetrated the US elite in his travel to catch the attention of financial investment for his companies. Billionaire Robert Kraft and quite a few celebs and properly-known athletes are also shareholders in FTX, the courtroom files exhibit.

Belfer Expense Partners held shares from FTX’s fairness fundraisings in 2021 and early 2022, as very well as investing in the crypto exchange’s US business, the documents demonstrate. Yet another business connected to the family members, Lime Partners LLC, also held shares in FTX and FTX US. The two companies’ blended stake in FTX Team was valued at $34.5mn as of the most recent fundraising round early past 12 months, in accordance to share costs furnished by a man or woman acquainted with the deal.

The Belfers are recognized for their intensive philanthropic donations. Robert and his spouse Renee created significant donations to the Satisfied Museum to renovate the New York institution’s Greek and Roman galleries, which are named for the Belfers. The relatives are also significant benefactors of Harvard, exactly where the centre for international affairs at the University’s Kennedy School is named just after them.

The household descend from Arthur Belfer who moved to the US from Poland all around the time of the 2nd earth war and imported feathers for down pillows and sleeping baggage prior to branching out into rubber and petroleum. The spouse and children oil business was acquired in the 1980s by a predecessor of Enron, building the Belfers big stakeholders in the doomed strength giant.

Their monetary misfortunes include things like trusting Madoff’s phoney expenditure company. Even so, in accordance to court docket paperwork, just after the demise of Enron, the Belfer providers withdrew much more than $28mn from Madoff’s scheme just before it collapsed.