- Psychiatrist Dr. George Lerner was hired as in-house coach for the defunct FTX exchange.
- Lerner was SBF’s personal confidante and treated him for ADHD and depression.
- Communication between Lerner and SBF is looked into for more clues regarding the fall of FTX.
Latest reports reveal that Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) psychiatrist was hired as an in-house coach for the Bahamas-based company and witnessed its downfall.
Dr. George Lerner, SBF’s personal psychiatrist was hired into FTX exchange early last year to tend to stressed-out employees. Lerner was treating SBF for ADHD and depression in his private practice before joining FTX. In fact, this is what led to Lerner joining FTX at the time of distress.
Complete with a major in psychiatry from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Dr. Lerner was not hired into the team as a medical help but to serve the role of a coach who would offer advice and counseling.
The psychiatrist had urged the employees to come to him with any workplace related issues. After moving to the Bahamas on accepting the job offer, he said he worked for 32 hours a week and saw about 100 of the 300 employees from the company for coaching. Almost 20-40 employees came to his private practice on a semi-regular basis.
The downfall of FTX began in November, as it was revealed that billions of dollars of customer funds were misused. However, SBF pleaded not guilty to fraud charges and filed for bankruptcy.
According to a report, the new management of FTX requested a subpoena from the judge “to obtain a broad assortment of internal communications, including those between Bankman-Fried and Dr.Lerner, as part of its efforts to recover FTX assets.”
Although the 46-year old is not accused of any felony, he is not deemed to be one of clean charts, reports say. Despite SBF’s ex-girlfriend bragging about regular drug use on Twitter, he goes on to deny any rampant amphetamine use by the employees and calls them very ‘tame’ who works late into the night.
Dr.Lerner says he was very particular about the employees who saw him for coaching as he asked them to sign a form stating that he was their coach not their psychiatrist. He is currently trying to stay clear of FTX talks and focussing on setting up a separate medical practice of his own.
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