--- title: "FTX’s In-House Psychiatrist Says Employees Weren’t Having Enough Sex, Actually" description: "In spite of allegations of workplace polyamory, it appears that FTX's in-house psychiatrist didn't think the people involved we having enough sex." date: "2022-11-16" modified: "2022-11-16" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/ftx-psychiatrist-relationships" categories: - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "life coaching" - "polyamory" - "psychiatry" - "sex" --- # FTX’s In-House Psychiatrist Says Employees Weren’t Having Enough Sex, Actually ![In spite of allegations of workplace polyamory, it appears that FTX's in-house psychiatrist didn't think the people involved we having enough sex.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* In spite of [rumors of workplace polyamory](), it appears that the psychiatrist charged with being FTX's in-house sex therapist didn't think the people involved in the now-collapsed crypto exchange were getting it on quite *enough*. In a [surprising interview with the *New York Times*](), psychiatrist George K. Lerner said he'd known Sam Bankman-Fried, the exchange's disgraced wunderkind founder, for years before he took up a post as the firm's company "coach." For his part, he denies the claim that the CEO or anyone else in the company's orbit in the Bahamas was getting up to anything all that freaky. "It’s a pretty tame place,” Lerner told the *Times*. "The higher-ups, they mostly played chess and board games. There was no partying. They were undersexed, if anything." "They were working way too much," the psychiatrist, who [initially spoke to *Vice*]() about his role at FTX, added. "It would have been healthier if they did have more healthy dating relationships." This assessment on its face would seem to run counter to the titillating claims of a "polycule," or loose nonmonagmous network, centered on the Bahamas house where Bankman-Fried lived with Caroline Ellison, his reported sometimes-girlfriend and CEO of his company's sister firm Alameda Research, along with eight other people in the companies' inner circle. As [*CoinDesk* reported]() following the disastrous FTX collapse, the residents of that house were all romantically paired off, and the polycule allegations seemed further emboldened by the revelation of [what's likely Ellison's since-deleted Tumblr account](), in which she alluded to being involved in the polyamorous lifestyle. It nevertheless should be noted that while people outside of the ethical non-monogamy and polyamory communities imagine it's all orgies all the time, it can often end up being surprisingly domestic — and those involved are, indeed, often [really into board games](). The *NYT* noted that Lerner is still using an FTX email address, and the psychiatrist said that although he's not sure if he'll still have a job after the firm's bankruptcy goes through, he's spent most of the last week "hand-holding" employees and "making sure that people get safely back home" from the Bahamas. None of the psychiatrist's admissions are a smoking gun about the company's culture, or anything else for that matter — but folks needn't [reenact the creation of Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours"]() to be messy enough for headlines, either. **More FTX:** [*Crypto Guy Says He's Doing Fine After Losing Billions of Customers' Money, Getting Plenty of Sleep*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()