Tone-deaf FTX millionaire spends $1.5M on gold watch recovered from wreck of Titanic as defrauded customers wait for money back

The man who spent $1.5 million on the most expensive Titanic relic ever has been identified as a former FTX boss who escaped from the collapsed crypto giant with hundreds of millions of dollars.

Patrick Gruhn triumphed in a fierce bidding war on Saturday to secure the gold pocket watch worn by John Jacob Astor IV on the doomed ship when it went down in April 1912.

Gruhn was head of the company's European business when FTX collapsed in late 2022 after stealing $8 billion from investors.

They have yet to see any of their money returned while Gruhn has agreed to pay just $33 million of the $323 million that FTX paid him for his business in what receivers have described as a 'massive overpayment'.

'The irony of this cannot be overstated,' tweeted finance writer Erin Arvendlund.

German-born Patrick Gruhn, a former director of collapsed crypto-giant FTX has been identified as the purchaser of the most valuable Titanic relic ever sold

The 14-karat gold pocket watch was retrieved from the body of the Titanic's wealthiest passenger John Jacob Astor IV when it was found a week after the ship sank in April 1912

Convicted FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried gave Gruhn a seat on the board and $323 million for his Swiss-based start-up, described by trustees as a 'massive overpayment' 

The German fintech magnate was given a seat on the FTX board after the company bought his Swiss-based start-up Digital Assets DA AG in 2021.

He settled in February after being sued by receivers who said his start-up was little more than a business plan and 'not up and running' when FTX bought it.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in jail in March after being convicted on seven counts of fraud, embezzlement and criminal conspiracy.

Gruhn, who runs a German Catholic TV network, said he had no knowledge of crimes at FTX before its spectacular collapse in November 2022, and is now attempting to launch a new crypto derivatives exchange in Europe.

The 14-karat watch was found on Astor's body when it was spotted floating near the scene of the wreck, a week after the ship went down.

The property magnate, who founded New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel, was the richest person aboard the tragic ship with a $85 million fortune, equivalent to about $2.7billion today.

He was returning to the US after a European honeymoon with his pregnant young wife Madeleine when the ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage with 2,240 people on board.

He helped Madeline onto a lifeboat and asked to join her because she was in a 'delicate condition', but was told that women and children had priority.

Astor's body was still dressed in his blue suit and brown flannel shirt when it was recovered

A set of Astor's gold cufflinks and his plan of first class accommodation on the Titanic were also found on him after he was pulled from the water

John Jacob Astor IV and his new wife Madeleine, from an image taken shortly before they traveled on the RMS Titanic

Witnesses saw him step back, throw his gloves to his wife, and light a cigarette as the lifeboat was lowered.

His watch was passed to his son Vincent Astor who restored it and later gave the watch to the son of his father's personal secretary.

It was bought by private collector John Miottel in the 1990s who displayed it at museums including the National Geographic Exhibition in Washington DC and Titanic Museum 'The World's Largest Titanic Attraction' in Missouri, US.

It made six times the guide price when it went for auction at Henry Aldridge & Son in England on Saturday, matching the record paid for a Titanic artifact – the violin played by bandmaster Wallace Hartley.

Gruhn said he bought it as a present for his own wife, Maren Gruhn, but that they planned to lend it to museums.

'We want people in the US to be able to see and admire this historic relic,' he added.

Bankman-Fried, 32, meanwhile appealed his federal conviction earlier this month and has agreed to cooperate in a class-action lawsuit against celebrities who promoted his crypto exchange.

Tom Brady, Shaquille O'Neal, Stephen Curry, Shohei Ohtani, Brady's ex-wife Gisele Bundchen and actor Larry David are also among the names accused of promoting unregistered securities for FTX and enticing investors into a Ponzi scheme.

By agreeing to cooperate with the investors, the victims will now drop their civil liability claims against the felon founder. 

John Jacob Astor IV left $69million of his $85million estate, equivalent to approximately $2.6billion in 2023, to his eldest son William Vincent Astor (right) who became the richest man in America

Users have slammed the sale of the gold pocket watch (pictured) recovered from the body of the richest man on the Titanic, adding that it should be displayed in a museum 

Bankman-Fried, who was a billionaire before age 30, illegally moved billions of dollars from FTX to his personal hedge fund, Alameda Research.

Earlier this month his spokesman Mark Botnick said Bankman-Fried remained 'singularly focused on returning the estate's assets to customers, who could and should be made whole as of current prices.'

But FTX's court-appointed trustees have said they will repay customers the value of their missing bitcoins at the $17,000 level they were trading when the company went bust in November 2022, rather than the $67,000 they are trading at today.

Shareholders in what was once the world's second-largest crypto exchange are likely to receive nothing.