Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), whose trial was held in October 2023, will receive his final sentence on March 24. CEO of FTX, the second largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world until November 2022, he has been accused of multiple frauds. October 2023 is also the publication date (in the United States) of the book by Michael Lewis, a regular bestseller. Why this biography of SBF, Going Infinite FTX, the rise and fall of the cryptocurrency tycoon, is it so controversial?
Michael Lewis: veteran journalist and bestselling author
Before talking about the book itself, the French translation of which has just been published, it is essential to talk about the author, but also the context in which this book was born. Best-selling author Michael Lewis is a prominent American journalist with a degree in economics. He worked for the Salomon Brothers bank in the 1980s: his knowledge of finance and his storytelling skills were put to good use in his book Liar Poker (Liar’s Poker, 1989). He continued to explore the world of finance: The Big Short: the heist of the Century (2010) dissects the subprime crisis of 2008. Flash Boys (2014) takes us into the world of high-frequency trading. Who better to write about Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former youngest millionaire under 30?
Michael Lewis and Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF)
America loves success stories. Lewis likes to talk about strangers with extraordinary destinies. He made America cry with the story of Michael Oher In The Blind Side (brought to the screen in 2010). A poor young African-American who, helped by a rich “white” family, has a dazzling career in football. This beautiful story will subsequently have a rather tragic outcome. We didn’t have to wait years to experience the catastrophe of FTX and Alameda Research.
After a first meeting in 2021, Lewis decided to write about this intriguing young man: Sam Bankman-Fried. There is something to be fascinated by this strange, scruffy and shaggy man. Lewis follows this eccentric young millionaire for months before the FTX crash. Describing from the first pages a carefree adult-child: in shorts and sneakers, he plays video games during Zoom meetings with investors and gives his communications manager a hard time. Far from the classic business manager. Reading this nonchalance, uneasiness sets in: how can we imagine such a character managing billions of dollars?
Going Infinite: the controversy
It cannot be denied that Lewis’s description of SBF and the reality of the offenses described during the trial do not appear to concern the same man. Written well before the crash of FTX, SBF was then praised by all. Making the front pages of prestigious newspapers, investors entrusted him with millions of dollars without blinking an eye. SBF’s empire seemed unshakeable. The bankruptcy, on November 11, 2022, only a few years after its creation, was an immeasurable shock. Lewis began by recounting the almost heroic rise of a slightly odd young thirty-year-old, adept at effective altruism, rubbing shoulders with the world elite. He probably didn’t expect such a rapid fall. Nobody expected it. Some say that the budding friendship tinged with admiration distorted Lewis’s judgment, he who needed to admire his characters to better describe them. He tries to make us believe that Sam Bankman-Fried was driven by “effective altruism”, the accumulation of wealth to better distribute it (a bit like Robin Hood). But distributing your customers’ money in purchases that are as expensive as they are superfluous is not the best way to get your readers to buy into this thesis.
The reality: fraud and embezzlement
After the resounding bankruptcy of FTX in November 2022, the trial, a year later, lasted only five weeks. The verdict was delivered very quickly, in less than five hours: guilty on all counts. Sam Bankman-Fried, accused in particular of fraud, criminal conspiracy and money laundering, faces 115 years in prison. The final verdict will be pronounced on March 24, 2024. His associates, his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison (CEO of Alameda research) and his employees all testified against him. The evidence of fraud is such that it is difficult to believe in the innocence of the founder of FTX. Yet Sam Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty and Lewis is inclined to believe in his innocence. His book is interesting to understand how he arrives at this conclusion. We could almost agree with this thesis if the evidence were not so obvious. One thing remains certain, we cannot organize a fraud of this magnitude without multiple complicity. Madoff may have defrauded Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) for more than 10 years, SBF was caught by the patrol after only 3 years. How were these companies able to fly under the radar? Why didn’t the banks alert the authorities? And to think that in this company, there was no financial director, no human resources department, no compliance officer. It’s simply mind-boggling.
Going Infinite FTX, the rise and fall of the cryptocurrency tycoon. Publisher : Talent Editions. Read an extract from Going Infinite (published February 2024).
Michael Lewis is undoubtedly a very “bankable” author: several of his books have been brought to the screen with the success we know. Going Infinite already seems to be following the same path, since Apple would have bought the rights for 5 million dollars before Lewis even started writing. We are now awaiting the final verdict in this immeasurable financial scandal: SBF’s lawyers seem to have taken inspiration from the book by pleading a certain leniency for their client given his atypical personality. All ruined victims probably don’t hear it that way.
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