--- title: "It Turns Out FTX and Alameda Owe Margaritaville a Staggering Amount of Money" description: "The Margaritaville bill always comes due — and in FTX and Alameda Resarch's case, it was way higher than we thought. Like, $600k more." date: "2023-03-22" modified: "2023-03-22" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ftx-owes-margaritaville" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" tags: - "crypto" - "ftx" - "sbf" - "the digest" --- # It Turns Out FTX and Alameda Owe Margaritaville a Staggering Amount of Money ![The Margaritaville bill always comes due — and in FTX and Alameda Resarch's case, it was way higher than we thought. Like, $600k more.]() *\Image: Ed Jones via Getty / Futurism\* ## Margarita Bill The Margaritaville bill always comes due — and in FTX's case, it was way higher than we thought. Back [in November](), it emerged that the [now-defunct]() crypto exchange's closely-tied hedge fund, the also-bankrupt Alameda Research, owed the Jimmy Buffet-owned Bahamian resort roughly $50,000. Which, of course, is already a lot of debt for cheeseburgers, be they [in paradise]() or elsewhere. But apparently, $50k isn't even half of what FTX and Alameda owe Nassau's Margaritaville. In fact, it's hardly a tenth. According [to *Insider*](), bankruptcy court documents filed in Delaware last week revealed that the flip-flop sanctuary is claiming a staggering $599,409 from the Sam Bankman-Fried-founded crypto hedge fund. You want fries with that!? ## Suite Life Of course, the first question, here, is... *how?* Alameda, as documents and testimonies from the Bahamian resort's staff had revealed late last year, had been known to rent out the hotel's most expensive suites to its employees, who were then allegedly shuttled from the hotel to Alameda's offices on chartered busses. That said, though, the Nassau-based Margaritaville's most expensive suite caps out [around four thousand dollars](). Certainly not inexpensive, but even at that price, it would be tough to rack up nearly $600,000 with suites alone. So, if we had to guess, the rest of Alameda's Margaritaville cash was going to food, and perhaps [yacht docking](). And maybe, just maybe, incredible numbers of margaritas. We don't know the reason, but they definitely stayed there all season. ## Billion Dollar Kids Per *Insider*, the court filings also revealed the extent of FTX entities' [affinity]() for the food delivery service Doordash, to which those entities paid a total of $403,765 (it's unclear what the timeline was for racking up this figure, though FTX has only existed since 2019.) Of that roughly $403k, a sum of $357,526 was paid by West Realm Shires Services — also known as the controlling entity FTX US. Of course, this update is just the latest in the ever-stranger, always-ridiculous saga of FTX and its ex-CEO, the [currently-on-house-arrest]() Sam Bankman-Fried. Just when you think that the plight of these billion-dollar kiddos couldn't get any more absurd, [it does](). And in this particular case, that absurdity just happens to come in the form of the biggest Margaritaville bill you have ever seen. Anyway. Has anyone seen the salt shaker? **READ MORE:** [*Sam Bankman-Fried's companies racked up a $400,000 DoorDash bill, documents show, after reportedly giving staff $200 a day to spend on food deliveries*]() \[*Insider*\] **More on FTX and Margaritaville:** [*Ftx's Worst Sin: It Owes an Immense Bill to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()