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

British Scandal

Wondery

Scandal, Alice Levine, Great Britain, Society & Culture, Exhibit C, British, England, History, Matt Forde, Documentary

4.5 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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.

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?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Ah, the Bahamas.
0:02.3	What if you could live in a penthouse above the crystal clear ocean, working during the
0:06.2	day and partying at night with your best friends and have it be 100% paid for?
0:12.2	FTX Founder Sam Bankman Fried lived that dream life, but it was all funded with other
0:16.7	people's money that he allegedly stole.
0:19.6	As cryptocurrency gained mainstream popularity as an exciting investment, FTX spent millions
0:25.1	on sponsorships from the likes of Steph Curry, Tom Brady, and even Shark Tinks Kevin
0:29.8	O'Leary, with some investing their own money in the marketplace.
0:33.7	Many thought Sam Bankman Fried was changing the game as he graced the pages of Forbes
0:38.0	and Vanity Fair.
0:39.4	Some involved in crypto saw him as a breath of fresh air from the usual Wall Street buffs
0:43.4	with his casual dress and ability to play League of Legends during boardroom meetings.
0:48.1	Barely 30, the young crypto billionaire became a powerful financial figure and was influencing
0:53.1	the global economy.
0:54.6	But in less than a year, his exchange would collapse, and SBF would find himself in a jail
0:59.4	cell, with tens of thousands of investors blaming him for their crypto losses.
1:03.6	It's one of the most dramatic falls from grace.
1:06.9	In our podcast, you'll hear exclusively from Sam's former girlfriend and business partner
1:11.4	Caroline Ellison, who will give her take on how things went down.
1:15.2	From Bloomberg and Wondery, come Spellcaster, a new six-part docky series about the wild
1:19.9	rise and fall of FTX and its founder Sam Bankman Fried.
1:23.8	I'm about to play you a clip from Spellcaster, the fall of Sam Bankman Fried.
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