Sam Bankman-Fried, the founding father of bankrupt cryptocurrency alternate FTX, arrives at court docket as legal professionals push to steer the decide overseeing his fraud case to not jail him forward of trial, at a courthouse in New York, August 11, 2023.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
Sam Bankman-Fried, the alleged crypto prison who stands accused of masterminding one of many largest monetary frauds in U.S. historical past, was contemplating paying Donald Trump $5 billion to not run for president, in line with best-selling creator Michael Lewis.
In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that aired on Sunday, Lewis stated the FTX founder wished to place a cease to a Trump White Home run in 2024 over fears that the previous president was a risk to democracy. Lewis traces the rise and fall of the crypto entrepreneur in his newest guide, “Going Infinite,” which comes out on Tuesday, the identical day Bankman-Fried’s first prison trial will get underway in New York.
“Sam’s pondering, ‘We may pay Donald Trump to not run for president. Like, how a lot would it not take?'” Lewis stated. “He did get a solution. He was floated — there was a quantity that was kicking round. And the quantity that was kicking round after I was speaking to Sam about this was $5 billion. Sam was undecided that quantity got here straight from Trump.”
In accordance with Lewis, Bankman-Fried’s ambition to derail Trump’s presidential marketing campaign finally went nowhere, partially as a result of he wasn’t certain if his proposal was authorized. Additionally, his crypto empire imploded in November 2022, wiping out Bankman-Fried’s billions of {dollars} of wealth.
A superseding indictment alleges that Bankman-Fried used buyer funds to make greater than $100 million in marketing campaign contributions for the 2022 midterm elections. The federal government has integrated that accusation inside two of the fees which might be nonetheless standing: wire fraud and cash laundering. That case is ready to go to trial subsequent month in in federal court docket in Manhattan.
Bankman-Fried pleaded not responsible to all fees.
Lewis, who stated he met with the FTX founder greater than 100 instances in two years, stated that there is a massive distinction between the alleged crimes dedicated by Bankman-Fried and people of previous high-profile monetary criminals.
“This is not a Ponzi scheme,” Lewis stated. “Like, once you consider a Ponzi scheme, I do not know, Bernie Madoff, the issue is — there isn’t any actual enterprise there. The greenback coming in is getting used to pay the greenback going out. And on this case, they really had — a fantastic actual enterprise. If nobody had ever solid aspersions on the enterprise, if there hadn’t been a run on buyer deposits, they’d nonetheless be sitting there making tons of cash.”
Bernie Madoff leaves federal court docket in New York on March 10, 2009.
Jin Lee | Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures
Bankman-Fried, who faces a possible lifetime in jail if convicted on varied fraud and conspiracy fees, had collected a internet price of round $26 billion earlier than he was 30 based mostly on how non-public buyers valued FTX.
Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried misused billions of {dollars} price of buyer cash for private good points, like upscale actual property, in addition to to cowl dangerous bets made at his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Analysis.
The federal government says buyer money was shuttled to Alameda by way of two channels: customers depositing money straight into accounts held by Alameda and thru a secret backdoor that was baked into FTX’s code.
When requested whether or not Lewis believed Bankman-Fried had knowingly stolen buyer cash, Lewis responded, “No.”
“Within the very starting, when you have been a crypto dealer who wished to commerce on FTX and wished to ship {dollars} or yen or euros onto the alternate so you would purchase crypto, FTX could not get financial institution accounts,” Lewis stated. “So Alameda Analysis, which may get financial institution accounts, created financial institution accounts for individuals to ship cash into in order that it could go to FTX.”
In the end, $8 billion of FTX buyer cash piled up inside Alameda Analysis. This is how Lewis stated Bankman-Fried defined his lack of recognition of that a lot cash sitting in a non-public fund.
“It’s important to perceive that when it went in there, it was a rounding error, that it felt like we had infinity {dollars} in there, that I wasn’t even enthusiastic about it,” Lewis stated.
Lewis balked on the comparability to Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who’s in jail dealing with a sentence of greater than 11 years for defrauding buyers concerning the capabilities of her firm’s blood-testing expertise.
“It is a bit of completely different supplying, you understand, phony medical data to individuals that may kill them,” Lewis stated. “And on this case, what you are doing is presumably shedding some cash that belonged to crypto speculators within the Bahamas. Alternatively, this isn’t to excuse. He should not have finished that.”
Lewis shared an anecdote about Bankman-Fried of the FTX founder enjoying a videogame throughout his first interview on tv.
“He goes on TV in his cargo shorts and his messy hair and he is enjoying video video games whereas he is on the air,” Lewis stated. “Should you watch the clip you may see his eyes going backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards. It is as a result of he is attempting to win his online game on the identical time he is on the air.”
WATCH: New Sam Bankman-Fried listening to right this moment
