On Background: The Political Spender America Deserves
Against the Rules with Michael Lewis
Pushkin Industries
4.4 • 9.9K Ratings
🗓️ 15 August 2023
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
During the 2022 election cycle, crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried gave as much as $40 million in political donations. That whopping sum caught the attention of campaign finance watchdogs, even before Bankman-Fried was arrested and charged with various financial crimes. Michael Lewis talks to Jordan Libowitz of the Campaign for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to understand the complex world of campaign finance law. And we hear why SBF, in confessing his dark-money deeds, may be a game changer. (NOTE: after this episode was recorded, federal prosecutors announced they were dropping a campaign finance charge against Bankman-Fried.)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there against the rules, listeners, it's Michael Lewis here. You might have heard |
| 0:16.7 | that I've been working on a new book about the crypto exchange FTX and its founder, Sam |
| 0:21.6 | Bankman Freed. And I'm still working on it, talking to experts on background here in |
| 0:27.1 | this feed. But I'm finally able to tell you just a bit more about the book itself, like |
| 0:31.9 | the title, for instance, and when it will be published. So here we go. My next book is |
| 0:39.4 | going to be called Going Infinite, The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon. It's coming out |
| 0:46.7 | October 3rd. And rather than tell you what's in it, because I think a lot of the pleasures |
| 0:52.8 | going to come from you not knowing what's in it, how about I just read you a little jacket |
| 0:56.6 | copy? And I quote, Michael Lewis takes you along on a quest to understand who Sam Bankman |
| 1:02.6 | Freed really is, what motivated him and what his spectacular rise and fall means for the |
| 1:07.7 | rest of us. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks whose eyes |
| 1:12.6 | twitched across zoom meetings as he played video games on the side? Right on the roller |
| 1:17.6 | coaster with me as I trace the ups and downs of a character who never liked the rules |
| 1:22.1 | and was allowed to live by his own until it all came undone. I didn't write those words, |
| 1:27.3 | but I think they sound okay. I'd read that book if I weren't still writing it. Going |
| 1:33.0 | infinite, The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon will be available October 3rd, 2023. In |
| 1:40.3 | fact, you could pre-order it now from your favorite bookstore. Look forward to your response. |
| 1:45.7 | Hello, hello, everyone. Malcolm Gladwell here. Before you hear this episode, I want to |
| 1:56.3 | let you know about another podcast that you might be interested in. This season on |
| 2:01.1 | revisionist history, I'm diving into one of the weirdest and most infuriating corners |
| 2:06.2 | of American life, guns. Six episodes that will take you all away from the Supreme Court |
| 2:13.2 | to 17th century England, to the wilds of Alabama, and to the streets of the south side |
... |
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