A wealthy tech investor who once dated OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was tied up, tortured, and robbed of $11 million in Crypto Saturday evening in San Francisco, the NY Post reports.
Dressed as a delivery worker, the armed robber rang the door at Lachy Groom’s $4.4 million home on Dorland Street while carrying a white box, asks for Joshua – who lives with Groom – while claiming to be a UPS driver. The victim answers the door and identifies himself as Joshua.
The thief then asked for him to sign for the package – asking if he can borrow a pen. The suspect then followed ‘Joshua’ inside when a loud bang can be heard.
Robber posing as a delivery driver steals $11,000,000 in crypto after pulling a gun and duct-taping the victim in San Francisco pic.twitter.com/Jny8HfVvGC
— BAY AREA STATE OF MIND (@YayAreaNews) November 24, 2025
According to the report, the suspect pulled a gun on Groom, tied him up with duct tape, and then stole $11 million worth of Ethereum and Bitcoin (exact method unknown), in what is believed to have been a hit by an organized crime group that the suspect was part of.
The suspect then tortured Groom, beating him while he held a phone up on loudspeaker as foreign voices on the line repeated his personal information that they had obtained. The thief then poured liquid on Groom before the crypto wallets were emptied.
The whole thing took around 90 minutes.
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.
Altman and Groom have invested together in various companies. Groom, a native Australian, has founded four startups and sold three before he turned 18.
Prominent San Francisco tech investor Gary Tan shared the security footage from the heist on Monday morning – writing in a since-deleted tweet: “We have to find the perpetrator,” adding “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,” said Tan.
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