Listen Now: Spellcaster - The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried

Against The Odds

Wondery

Cassie De Pecol, History, Society & Culture, Dolby, Mike Corey, Dolby Atmos, Atmos

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2024

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When nerdy gamer Sam Bankman-Fried rocketed to fame as the world’s richest 29-year-old, he pledged to donate his billions to good causes. But when Sam's crypto exchange FTX collapsed, billions of dollars went missing, and Sam was in handcuffs, those who knew him were left wondering — who was Sam really? A well-meaning billionaire who made a mistake? Or a calculated con man? From Wondery and Bloomberg, the makers of The Shrink Next Door, comes a new story of incredible wealth, betrayal, and what happens when “doing good” goes really, really, bad.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Ah, the Bahamas.
0:01.9	What if you could hang out with celebrities, live in a penthouse above the crystal clear ocean
0:05.9	with all your best friends, and have it be 100% paid for?
0:10.0	FDX founder Sam Bankman Freed made that dream a reality, but US prosecutors say he was hiding a dark secret.
0:17.4	As cryptocurrency gained mainstream popularity, FTX was a poster child spending millions on pro sports sponsorships and
0:24.8	A-list celebrity endorsements from the likes of Tom Brady, Larry David, and even Shark Tank's
0:29.8	Kevin O'Leary, with some investing their own money in the marketplace.
0:34.4	Many thought Sam Bankman-Freed was changing the game as he graced the pages of Forbes and Vanity Fair.
0:40.2	Barely 30, the young crypto billionaire became a powerful financial figure and was influencing the global economy.
0:46.2	But in just one month, his exchange would collapse,
0:50.2	and SBF would find himself in handcuffs as tens of thousands of investors
0:54.8	would blame him for their fortunes lost. It's one of the most dramatic falls
0:59.4	from grace and represents one of the most spectacular failures of corporate control in American history.
1:05.0	Here exclusive tape of Sam and his former girlfriend and business partner Caroline Ellison,
1:10.0	who later admitted something had gone very wrong inside their operation.
1:15.0	From Bloomberg and Wundery comes Spellcaster.
1:18.0	The Ambi Award Winning Six-part Docueries about the meteoric rise and fall of FTX and founder Sam Bankman Freed.
1:25.1	I'm about to play a clip from Spellcaster.
1:27.2	Make sure to follow Spellcaster on the Wundery app or wherever you get your podcasts. The Bahamar Resort.
1:34.0	The Bahamar Resort is
1:47.0	The Bahammar Resort is a gargantuan hotel on a gorgeous stretch of Bahama's beachfront. You enter by crossing a Roman-style bridge over a landscaped lake,
1:52.0	where every night there's a glitzy fountain show with pulsing lights and extremely loud music.
	...

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