Michael Lewis, the author of Moneyball and The Big Short, has begun talking about his upcoming book on the fall of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and FTX.
Key Details
- Lewis’s new book Going Infinite: The Rise And Fall Of a New Tycoon is slated for an October 3 release—about the time that SBF’s fraud trial begins.
- He discussed the process of working with the deposed SBF while the FTX founder has been living with his parents in Palo Alto, California, and his prior year of access to him while working in the Bahamas in a recent interview with The New York Times.
- He tells The Times that his unfettered access to SBF has given him a greater perspective than others and claims his book will be a better story than what comes out at his upcoming trial.
Why It’s Important
The fall of SBF made for one of the largest news stories of last year—with the leading crypto evangelist and billionaire philanthropist transforming overnight from a respected businessman and activist into a world-renowned alleged felon whose rampant fiscal irresponsibility had defrauded millions of people out of their money.
Michael Lewis, already a successful business journalist and best-selling author, had spent more than a year shadowing and interviewing SBF before his crypto empire collapsed, having intended to write a book on his precipitious rise, only to realize that he was in the perfect position to write the story of his fall.
“He’s the ideal subject. He’s locked up in his house an hour from my house with an ankle monitor. He can’t go anywhere. It’s unbelievably convenient,” says Lewis.
Lewis announced his plan to write a book on SBF just a week after the collapse of FTX, before SBF’s arrest and many of the developments of the story. With his trial upcoming, it remains to be seen if SBF’s story will cleanly wrap up or if the trial will turn into an extended international debacle. SBF has already made clumsy attempts to defend himself from fraud allegations.
Lewis’ books such as Moneyball, The Big Short, and Liar’s Poker tend to be the definitive take on a particular era of finance—combining his ability to synthesize complicated topics, weave a human element to an economic story, and gain access to key players.
Notable Quote
“In October, there’s probably going to be a trial, and the two sides are each going to take a bunch of facts and tell completely different stories. I think I can tell a story that’s a better story than either side, that includes all the facts and will put the reader in a position of being the juror,” Lewis tells The Times.
