
On the same day that Sam Bankman-Fried's trial on federal fraud charges begins, Michael Lewis, the best-selling author, is set to publish a widely anticipated book about Bankman-Fried's failed cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. Mr. Lewis, the author of and Bankman-Fried and other top FTX executives, had access to the company's headquarters in the Bahamas for the book, which features previously unreported details about Mr. Bankman-Fried's empire, from its founding in the Bay Area to its epic collapse in the Bahamas last year. Lewis doesn't suggest a 'no' or 'no' answer. He depicts Mr. Bankman-Fried as a delusional and frequently callous figure in his treatment of co-workers, a young entrepreneur who thought grown-ups were pointless and left messes for other people to clean up.
Lewis also expressed skepticism about the lawyers and executives who were brought in to manage FTX's bankruptcy and have become some of Bankman-Fried's fiercest public critics. In the final page of the book, Lewis notes that Mr. Bankman-Fried's explanations for the collapse of FTX, as implausible as they sound, have remained irritatingly difficult to disprove. Bankman-Fried founded his own company, the hedge fund Alameda Research, alongside Tara Mac Aulay, an Australian mathematician who moved into the same philanthropic circles. At one point, Bankman-Fried'revealed his romantic interest in her,' before shifting attention to her trading skills. Mac Aulay, 62, quit Alameda, during a staff exodus in early 2018 that came to be known as the schism. The fund lost money: In one point, $4 million of its digital coins were simply disappearing from its accounts. Ms. Mac Aulay grew to consider Mr. Bankman-Fried 'Dishonest and manipulative,' and other senior figures at Alameda accused him of mismanagement. Bankman-Fried wrote about the split. Bankman-Fried became a successful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, and he contributed more than $5 million to Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s 2020 presidential campaign. He also met with governor-elect Donald Trump, the minority leader, and Senator Mitch McConnell. Ron DeSantis, a Florida native, was elected as the chairman of the Florida delegation. Bankman-Fried explored 'the legality of paying Donald Trump himself not to run for the presidency,' according to the book. Some advisers to Mr. Bankman-Fried informed him that Mr. Trump's price was $5 billion.
Caroline Ellison, a close friend of Bankman-Fried, was one of his closest business associates. After FTX collapsed, Ellison pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors who have accused Bankman-Fried of stealing money from customers to finance political donations and other lavish spending. Lewis cites several messages exchanged between Bankman-Fried and Ms. Ellison regarding their relationship. In one interview, Ms. Ellison described things that Mr. Bankman-Fried had done and that bothered her, including telling me that he felt conflicted about having sex with me, then having sex with me, then ignoring me for a few months. Mr. Bankman-Fried wrote to Ms. Ellison in a letter that outlined the pros and cons of continuing a romantic relationship with her. The pros included that she was intelligent, impressive, and a good person, and that he enjoyed having sex with her. The cons were the awkward power dynamics in the relationship, the possibility of negative publicity if their dating life became public. he wrote: 'T really have a soul,' he said. Why is it that I can't make myself happy with dating someone who I really can't make? When the company filed for bankruptcy in November, Lewis spent time with Mr. Bankman-Fried at FTX's headquarters in the Bahamas. He describes a panicked text that Bankman-Fried read from Nishad Singh, a top FTX executive who later pleaded guilty to fraud.
After FTX filed for bankruptcy last year, John Jay Ray III, a renowned corporate turnaround specialist, took over the company. Lewis draws from a series of unusually candid interviews he conducted with Mr. Ray, who has said little about FTX outside legal filings and congressional testimony. He described Ms. Ellison as cold as ice and an 'Obvious complete weirdo', using an expletive to emphasise the issue. FTX also said that it had invested $500,000 in Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup, before dismissing the project as just a bunch of people with an idea.