Sam Bankman-Fried: The Downfall of a Crypto Bro with Fabrizio Copano and Zoltan Kaszas | 50
The Big Flop
Wondery
4.6 • 884 Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2024
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sam Bankman-Fried was the king of crypto, living large in a penthouse in the Bahamas. But his billion dollar empire was built on a foundation of fraud, and when his dubious deals were exposed, this crypto bro went from blockchain to a cell block.
Fabrizio Copano (4th From the South) and Zoltan Kaszas (This Week in Zoltan, Honorary Jones) join Misha to decrypt how Sam Bankman-Fried lost his shirt--his grungy, rumpled shirt.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Wonderie Plus subscribers can listen to the Big Flop early and ad-free. |
| 0:05.3 | Join Wonderly Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. |
| 0:18.4 | Sam Bankman-Fried, better known as SBF, is working late. |
| 0:23.8 | But he's in his luxury penthouse apartment in the Bahamas, so don't feel too bad for him. |
| 0:29.3 | Sam's penthouse doubles as the headquarters of FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange he founded, |
| 0:36.7 | bringing him unimaginable wealth and fame. |
| 0:41.2 | Magazines are putting Sam on their covers. |
| 0:44.2 | He's been on stage with Tony Blair and Bill Clinton |
| 0:47.3 | and partied with Kate Hudson and Katie Perry, |
| 0:50.6 | a real murderer's row of people who used to be more popular. |
| 0:57.2 | Still, at just 30 years old, |
| 1:04.7 | Sam's the face of cryptocurrency, even though nobody really understands what that means. |
| 1:13.1 | Sam runs his hands through his hair and fidgets in his trademark uniform, oversized t-shirt, cargo shorts, and sneakers. |
| 1:20.0 | He keeps a beanbag chair next to his laptop for some micro-naps, which may be cool for a college kid, |
| 1:23.0 | but is a bit weird for a billionaire CEO. |
| 1:29.4 | Anyway, Sam has no time for micronaps right now. |
| 1:31.5 | He's under a lot of pressure. |
| 1:36.0 | In the last month and a half, FDX declared bankruptcy. |
| 1:42.5 | Customers think they're going to lose a fortune, and they are very angry at Sam. |
| 1:49.6 | SBF stops typing mid-email. The penthouse is right by the ocean. In tranquil moments, you can hear the waves crashing against the shore. The quiet is broken by a knock |
| 1:55.1 | at the door. Usually, a late-night visitor might mean a takeout delivery, or maybe some amphetamines, |
| 2:04.1 | a little treat to help him keep trading crypto all night. |
... |
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