A New York oil baron who lost billions within the collapse of Enron and who additionally invested tens of hundreds of thousands in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme has additionally taken a hit within the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency trade FTX, in accordance with a report.

Robert Belfer, 87, whose household has made a number of philanthropic donations to establishments just like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in addition to Harvard University and Yeshiva University, was listed in courtroom paperwork as a shareholder of FTX, in accordance with the Financial Times.

The paperwork present that Belfer Investment Partners and Lime Partners LLC, two corporations linked to the household enterprise, held shares in FTX and its US subsidiary, FTX US.

The two entities held a mixed stake of $34.5 million as of early final 12 months once they participated in an fairness fundraising spherical, in accordance with courtroom paperwork cited by Financial Times.

The Belfers have declined to remark publicly on the matter.

The Belfer household joins different rich celebrities reminiscent of New England Patriots proprietor Robert Kraft; famous person quarterback Tom Brady; Brady’s supermodel ex-wife, Gisele Bündchen; and others.

Brady owns 1.1 million widespread shares of FTX, a privately held firm, whereas Bündchen owns 686,000 shares, in accordance with filings. It is unclear how a lot cash they paid for his or her shares.

Brady, Bündchen, and different movie star endorsers have been named in a number of lawsuits filed by traders who accused them of selling a “massive Ponzi scheme.”

Bankman-Fried, the previous mogul whose web price was as soon as valued at greater than $26 billion, has been indicted by the federal authorities on fraud and cash laundering prices. He stays beneath home arrest after he was launched on $250 million bond.

Bankman-Fried, 30, has pleaded not responsible. He denies wrongdoing.

Robert Belfer is the Polish-born son of Arthur Belfer, the multimillionaire oil government who fled his native Poland after the invasion by Nazi Germany.

Arthur Belfer got here to the United States and based Belco Petroleum Corp., which grew into a Fortune 500 firm. His son finally rose to turn into president of the agency.

In the mid-Eighties, Belco Petroleum merged with InterNorth, Inc., the Omaha-based power agency that finally merged with Houston Natural Gas to turn into Enron.

The Belfer household grew to become one in all Enron’s largest stakeholders, proudly owning some $2 billion price of fairness.

But within the early 2000s, Enron, which was as soon as price as a lot as $70 billion, declared chapter after it was discovered that firm executives used unlawful accounting practices to cover its huge money owed from traders and collectors.

Ironically, John Ray III, an lawyer who was put in by a chapter courtroom to move FTX after Bankman-Fried stepped down, was additionally appointed to be the person to scrub up the Enron mess.

In November, Ray mentioned that the FTX scandal was worse than Enron.

“Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here,” Ray mentioned.

The Belfers additionally invested hundreds of thousands with Madoff, the previous Wall Street government who died in jail after he was convicted of orchestrating the most important fraud in historical past.

After the autumn of Enron, the Belfer household withdrew greater than $28 million from Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

Irving Picard, the trustee who was answerable for liquidating Madoff’s property and recovering victims’ funds, filed go well with in opposition to the Belfers in an effort to claw again their features, in accordance with courtroom paperwork.

It is unclear how the lawsuit was settled.