The current prisoner, former FTX owner, believed that Donald Trump threatened democracy.
Writer Michael Lewis, tracing the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried in his new book "Going Infinite," said that the crypto entrepreneur considered paying Donald Trump $5 billion in 2024 to prevent him from running for president.
In an interview with CBS, Lewis referred to Bankman-Fried's words, who believed that the former US president "threatens democracy":
"Sam thought he could pay Donald Trump not to run for president. When I spoke to him, the figure was $5 billion. But Sam was not sure if this figure came directly from Trump."
According to Lewis, Bankman-Fried's desire to disrupt Trump's presidential campaign ultimately led nowhere - in part because the crypto entrepreneur was unsure of the legality of his offer.
Stephen Chang, a representative of Trump's election campaign, called Bankman-Fried a "liar" who "is trying to deceive people again."
In November 2022, Bankman-Fried's crypto empire FTX went bankrupt, and he is currently under investigation. The indictment alleges that the former FTX executive used client funds to make contributions to the election campaign during the 2022 midterm elections - totaling $100 million in total (this claim was added to two other charges - for fraud and money laundering).
Bankman-Fried has not pleaded guilty to all charges.
Lewis, who met with the founder of FTX more than 100 times in the past two years, said there is a big difference between the potential crimes committed by Bankman-Fried and the crimes of former high-ranking financial criminals.
"This is not a Ponzi scheme. The dollar that comes in is used to pay out the dollar that goes out. And in this case, they had a great legitimate business. If there was no slander, if there was no outflow of client deposits, they would still be sitting there earning a lot of money," Lewis said.
Lewis's book "Going Infinite" is coming out on Tuesday - the same day the first criminal trial against Bankman-Fried begins in New York. Earlier, the court revoked bail and sent Sam to prison for pressuring witnesses.
Bankman-Fried, facing life imprisonment, amassed a net worth of around $26 billion before he turned 30. Prosecutors claim that the entrepreneur used billions of dollars of client money to buy luxury goods or real estate. Sam also considered the possibility of acquiring the island state of Nauru to build a bunker there.
The government says that client funds were transferred to the company Alameda Research through two channels: users deposited cash directly into accounts and through a secret backdoor embedded in the FTX code. Ultimately, $8 billion of client funds from FTX were gathered in Alameda Research.
When asked if Lewis believes that Bankman-Fried deliberately stole client money, he answered "no," and also disagreed with comparing the crypto entrepreneur to Theranos medical startup founder Elizabeth Holmes, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for deceiving investors about the capabilities of a new blood analysis technology.
"This is somewhat different - providing people with false medical information that can kill them. In our case, you may lose money. On the other hand, it's not an excuse. He should not do it," Lewis said.
Source: CNBC
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