EXCLUSIVE | MICHAEL LEWIS
How crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried met fashion queen Anna Wintour
exclusive
The man accused of one of the largest frauds in history became a magnet for some of the world’s biggest celebrities, including the editor of Vogue. By Michael Lewis
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and Anna Wintour
BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES; NOAM GALAI/GC IMAGES
The Times
On the morning of May 11, 2021, Sam Bankman-Fried made his first television appearance. He sat at his trading desk and talked into his computer screen to two female reporters on Bloomberg TV.
Thick black curls exploded off his head in every direction. He wore what he always wore: a wrinkled T-shirt and cargo shorts. His bare knee jackhammered up and down at roughly four beats per second, while his eyes darted left and right and collided with his interviewers’ gaze only by chance. His general demeanour was that of a kid pretending to be interested when his parents hauled him into the living room to meet their friends. He’d done nothing to prepare, but the questions were so easy that it didn’t matter. Crypto
