FTX, Con Men, and the Power of Grift

Now & Then

Vox Media Podcast Network

History, Society & Culture, News Commentary, News

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2022

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Following the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the undoing of its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, Heather and Joanne discuss the businesspeople and money-makers who have fallen hardest throughout American history. How do we find the line between the “con man” and the capitalist? Heather and Joanne talk about the mid-1800s origins of the “con man,” the loss of belief in financiers during the Great Depression, and the Keating Five scandal of the late 1980s. Vote for Now & Then in the Best History Podcast category of the Signal Awards: bit.ly/3WhbYWL Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and Joanne chat each week about the anecdotes and ideas that formed the episode. Head to: cafe.com/history For more historical analysis of current events, sign up for the free weekly CAFE Brief newsletter, featuring Time Machine, a weekly article that dives into an historical event inspired by each episode of Now & Then: cafe.com/brief For references & supplemental materials, head to: cafe.com/now-and-then/ftx-con-men-and-the-power-of-grift/ Now & Then is presented by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Download the New York Historical Society's podcast for the Ages with host David M. Rubenstein
0:06.6	to explore the rich and complex history of the United States and beyond through interviews
0:11.1	with renowned historians and luminaries like Annette Gordon Reed, Billie Jean King, Eric
0:16.3	Phoner, and Robert Gates.
0:18.7	For the Ages, covers a wide range of topics from presidential biographies to the people
0:23.0	who have shaped the American story.
0:25.3	Visit now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:29.6	Learn more at nyhistory.org.
0:35.7	This episode is brought to you by Slack.
0:38.3	With Slack, you can bring all your people and tools together in one place.
0:42.2	It's your digital HQ, where you can increase productivity, enable flexibility, and automate
0:47.5	workflows.
0:48.5	Plus, Slack is full of game-changing features, like huddles for quick check-ins or Slack
0:53.4	Connect, which helps you connect with partners inside and outside of your company.
0:58.3	Slack, where the future works.
1:00.8	Get started at slack.com slash DHQ.
1:14.9	From Cafe and the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is now and then.
1:19.3	I'm Heather Cox-Richardson.
1:21.3	And I'm Joanne Freeman.
1:22.7	This week, we're going to talk about a topic that, as you'll hear in the episode, on the
1:28.1	one hand, has a long history within American history, and not just in America, but has
1:34.8	been particularly in the news lately because of Sam Bankman-Freed.
	...

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