The Rise and Fall of Crypto Billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried from Talk Easy

Against the Rules with Michael Lewis

Pushkin Industries

Business, Society & Culture, Sports

4.6 • 9.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2023

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Enjoy this episode from another Pushkin Industries podcast, Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso.

Upon taking a walk with crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, writer Michael Lewis had a sense that there might be a story here. In the intervening two years, that story has taken a series of twists and turns, resulting in Lewis’ new book Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon.

At the top, we walk through Bankman-Fried’s Manhattan trial, the subject at the center of this winding story, and why Lewis was first interested in observing him. Then, he unpacks Bankman-Fried’s belief in effective altruism, his probabilistic approach to trading, and how his Stanford law professor parents shaped his thinking.

On the back-half, we discuss the ten-day period of FTX’s collapse, the scene in the Bahamas as Bankman-Fried filed for bankruptcy, and why Lewis felt a kinship with Sam’s parents in that moment. To close, Michael reflects on his own journalistic tendencies and how he managed to write this book in the aftermath of great personal tragedy.

For thoughts, reflections, and guest suggestions, drop Sam a line at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Pushkin.
0:10.0	My dad Tom is one of the most charming men you'll ever meet, the love of my mom's life.
0:16.1	But for 52 years, he was also something else, a wanted fugitive.
0:22.0	From Neon Home Media and Sony Music Entertainment,
0:25.0	listen to Smokescreen, my fugitive dad.
0:29.0	Subscribe on Apple Podcast to binge all episodes now now or listen weekly wherever you get your
0:34.4	podcasts. This is talk easy. I'm San Francisco, so welcome to the show. Today we are joined by writer and podcaster Michael Lewis. He's the host of
1:16.7	Against the Rules and the author of several best-selling books including Liars poker,
1:22.0	moneyball and The Big Short.
1:25.0	His latest is called Going Infinite, the rise and fall of a new tycoon.
1:30.6	The tycoon in question is Sam Bankman-freed, the FTX The F.TX.
1:35.0	crypto-Mogel who was once listed by Forbes as the richest person in the world under 30.
1:41.6	That was until the cryptocurrency exchange collapsed last fall
1:45.6	when several billions from customers and investors were lent to Alameda
1:49.7	research, a cryptocurrency trading firm co-founded by Bankman Freight.
1:55.0	Sam now stands trial in a Manhattan federal court where he's been accused of orchestrating
2:00.0	a scheme to siphon money from FTX into various political contributions, real estate purchases,
2:06.4	charitable donations, and venture investments.
2:09.8	He currently faces seven criminal counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.
2:16.8	But at each twist and turn in Sam's improbable story, there's only one person that really
2:22.3	had a front row seat to the action, Michael Lewis.
2:26.0	Since the publication of Going Infinite in early October, the book has received a wide array of reviews. The Guardian for one marveled at Lewis's ability to quote pace,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -393 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Pushkin Industries, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Pushkin Industries and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.