The root of the debacle seems, per Hagey's excerpt, to have stemmed from a discovery in the summer of 2023, when an unidentified board member learned by chance that OpenAI's so-called "Startup Fund" was allegedly not disbursing funds to intended investors. After months of obfuscation, the board learned that Altman himself owned the fund — a finding, it seems, that began to unravel mounting doubts in the CEO's leadership.

In the worst-case scenario, where none of the frozen assets are recovered, the increase in the value of Russia’s gold would compensate for about a third of the potential losses.