Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty
In a stroke of transcendently good luck for Michael Lewis, halfway into reporting his latest book on former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, his protagonist was indicted for allegedly masterminding one of the largest frauds in history.
On Tuesday, just as Bankman-Fried’s trial was commencing in New York, Lewis released the biography, which paints its subject as a frenetic, emotionless, and largely well-intentioned genius. Already, the tone of the book is generating controversy, including for Lewis’ assertion in an interview with 60 Minutes that Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange, FTX, had a “a great real business” in contrast to a Ponzi scheme run by the likes of Bernie Madoff. (Bankman-Fried is accused of misappropriating billions of dollars of customer deposits.)
Some reporters are also pushing back on Lewis’ claim that Bankman-Fried considered paying Donald Trump $5 billion not to run for president, arguing that the idea was “basically a joke” or a “thought experiment.”