The home of a tech investor who once dated ChatGPT boss Sam Altman was targeted in an $11 million crypto heist on Saturday evening in San Francisco, police sources and people with knowledge of their prior relationship told The Post.
The armed robber posed as a delivery worker when he buzzed the $4.4 million Dorland Street address while carrying a white box, as seen in doorbell camera footage posted to social media.
The suspect asks for “Joshua,” pretending to have a package for him and claims he works for a UPS affiliate. The victim answers the door and identifies himself as Joshua.
The thief then asks for him to sign for the package before rummaging through his pocket and then asking the resident if he can borrow a pen. The suspect then follows the resident inside and a loud bang is heard.
Once inside the home, the suspect pulled a gun on the resident and tied him up with duct tape before draining his crypto accounts and stealing the victim’s phone and laptop, according to police sources. Cops arrived at 6:45 PM and found the victim suffering from minor injuries, including bruising.
The gunman stole $11 million worth of Ethereum and Bitcoin in what is believed to be a targeted hit by an organized crime group, a source with knowledge of the investigation said.
The attacker tied up and tortured the victim, beating him while he held up a phone on loudspeaker as foreign voices on the line reeled off personal information about him. The thief then poured liquid over the victim before emptying his crypto wallets over the course of around 90 minutes, the source tells The Post.
Homeowner Lachy Groom, 31, is a venture capitalist and the ex-boyfriend of Open AI’s Altman, 40, who dated the billionaire sometime before he got married in 2024, sources with knowledge of their relationship said. Groom bought the property from Altman’s brother in 2021 for $1.8 million, property records show. Details of their relationship have not previously been reported. Attempts to reach Groom were not returned.
The Post has learned Joshua is a fellow tech investor who lives with Groom at the 4-bedroom Dorland Street home.
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“Sam is the most supportive, generous, inspiring person i know. openai has forever changed the world, and i know whatever comes next will be even greater,” Groom posted to X about Altman in November 2023.
Altman and Groom have invested in companies together in the past too. Groom was hailed as a startup wunderkind in his native Australia, founding four startups and selling three before turning 18 years old, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. He was later hailed as a member of “The Stripe Mafia,” a group of 14 ex-employees of the online payment processing platform who went on to found their own venture-backed startups.
“Lachy is one of four people i ask for career advice,” Altman said on X in 2019. Altman did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The home, which is worth $4.4 million, per Zillow and is in a part of San Francisco’s Mission District that is popular with the tech elite. Mark Zuckerberg once owned a home worth $31 million in nearby Dolores Heights.
Prominent San Francisco tech investor Garry Tan took to social media Monday morning sharing the security footage on his X account and asking for the public’s help in tracking down the suspect.
“We have to find the perpetrator,” Tan wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “Time is of the essence.”
“Self custody of crypto seems like a good idea until it isn’t. Vault storage (at Coinbase or elsewhere) for long term holding is safest,” Tan said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Kidnappings of crypto investors are on the rise, according to Steve Krystek, CEO of PFC Safeguards, a personal security company.
“A lot of the people who come into this money are flashy, and they’re signaling that they have wealth,” he previously told The Post.
No arrests have been make and the investigation is ongoing, according to police. Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411.
