Say what you’ll about writer Michael Lewis, however he does have a knack for locating attention-grabbing characters to put in writing about.
The newest is Sam Bankman-Fried, the founding father of failed crypto trade FTX who’s accused of working “one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history.” Lewis’s newest guide, “Going Infinite,” follows the rise and fall of the person generally known as SBF, and comes out Tuesday — the identical day Bankman-Fried’s trial begins in federal courtroom in New York City.
CBS’s “60 Minutes” aired an interview with Lewis on Sunday night time, wherein Lewis delved deep into Bankman-Fried’s historical past and psyche, and revealed juicy tidbits from the guide, which he compiled from assembly with SBF greater than 100 occasions over two years. Here are 5 of the weirdest tales about Bankman-Fried that he informed “60 Minutes”:
SBF performed a videogame throughout his first TV interview
Lewis stated that in Bankman-Fried’s very first TV look, when FTX was gaining notoriety, he was taking part in a videogame by all of it. “If you watch the clip you can see his eyes going back and forth, back (laughs) and forth. It’s because he’s trying to win his videogame at the same time he’s on the air,” Lewis stated, in accordance with a CBS News transcript.
The vogue icon vs. the schlub
In maybe essentially the most fish-out-of-water story ever, Lewis stated Vogue editor-in-chief and vogue icon Anna Wintour needed Bankman-Fried — who not often wore something apart from shorts and a T-shirt and who Lewis known as “the worst-dressed person in America… the worst-dressed billionaire in the history of billionaires” — to sponsor the swanky Met Gala. “Sam was a social experiment,” Lewis stated. He had “seemingly infinite dollars” and was keen to provide it away. “Everybody comes to the trough,” Lewis stated, including that when Bankman-Fried took a Zoom assembly with Wintour, he had no thought who she was.
SBF and Tom Brady had been buddies. For actual.
Lewis stated Bankman-Fried paid athletes and celebrities ridiculous quantities of cash for endorsements, together with $55 million to now-former NFL quarterback Tom Brady for “20 hours a year for three years.”
Surprisingly — or maybe not, given the $55 million — Brady “adored him,” Lewis stated.
“I think Tom Brady thought he was just a really interesting person. I think he liked to hear what he had to say,” Lewis stated. “And he really liked Tom Brady. And Sam wasn’t, like, a big sports person… The nerd of all nerds. (laughs) Like, even the nerds don’t hang out with this nerd, he’s such a nerd. (laughs) The quarterback somehow likes him. And he somehow likes the quarterback.”
FTX’s collapse and the next fraud prices apparently modified Brady’s thoughts. “Brady was, I think, crushed,” Lewis stated. “And I think as time has gone by, and he’s ceased to get a really good explanation about what’s happened — I think he’s just like, ‘He tricked me. I’m angry. I don’t wanna have anything to do with it anymore.’”
SBF needed to pay Trump to not run
Bankman-Fried has donated many hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to each Republicans and Democrats, however he was so apprehensive about Donald Trump — who he thought-about a menace to democracy — that he thought-about paying Trump to not run for president in 2024, Lewis stated.
“Sam’s pondering, ‘We could pay Donald Trump not to run for president. Like, how much would it take?’” Lewis said. “So he did get an answer. He was floated — there was a number that was kicking around. And the number that was kicking around when I was talking to Sam about this was $5 billion, Sam was not sure that number came directly from Trump.”
Those talks never went anywhere, obviously, and Bankman-Fried was unsure about the legality of paying Trump not to run, Lewis said. But those discussions reportedly stopped when FTX collapsed and Bankman-Fried lost almost his entire fortune.
Jail wouldn’t be so unhealthy, if…
Bankman-Fried faces greater than 100 years in jail if convicted on a mess of federal fraud and conspiracy prices. When requested what Bankman-Fried fears most about probably being imprisoned, Lewis had a stunning reply: “Not having the internet.”
“Now that sounds crazy, but I do think that if he had the internet, he could survive jail forever,” Lewis stated. “Without having a constant stream of information to react to — I think he may go mad.”
Lewis added that if given the selection of dwelling in a $39 million penthouse within the Bahamas with out web, or be in jail however with web entry, “there’s no question in my mind he’d take the jail.”
Source web site: www.marketwatch.com
