The Crypto King and the journalist
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2023
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sam Bankman-Fried, the American crypto entrepreneur who went from billionaire to bankrupt, is on trial in New York for fraud.
The 31-year-old who founded the cryptocurrency exchange FTX is accused of lying to investors and lenders.
He has denied those charges, and instead says he was acting in good faith but made mistakes. He says he never set out to defraud anyone.
In the coming days, 12 jurors will decide his fate - he could face a life sentence in prison if convicted.
Vivienne Nunis speaks to financial journalist Michael Lewis, who spent hundreds of hours with Sam Bankman-Fried for his new book Going Infinite.
Presenter: Vivienne Nunis
(Image: Sam Bankman-Fried leaving a court hearing in June 2022. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sport, but not as you know it. |
| 0:03.1 | Nothing is ever quite as expected. |
| 0:05.5 | Amazing sports stories from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:08.6 | If the story is wriggly, contentious or hard to tame, I'll cover it. |
| 0:13.3 | Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. |
| 0:18.8 | Sam Bankman Freed, the American crypto entrepreneur who went from billionaire to bankrupt in the blink of an eye. |
| 0:26.2 | He's currently on trial in New York for fraud. |
| 0:29.5 | The 31-year-old is accused of stealing more than $8 billion, belonging to customers and investors. |
| 0:35.6 | If you mislead and deceive to take what does not belong to you, |
| 0:40.3 | we will hold you accountable. |
| 0:42.0 | He says he never set out to defraud anyone. |
| 0:45.2 | In the coming days, 12 jurors will decide his fate, |
| 0:49.1 | potentially landing him in jail for life. |
| 0:52.1 | Today on the program, we speak to a man |
| 0:54.0 | who spent hundreds of hours |
| 0:55.6 | with the accused, the financial journalist Michael Lewis. If a novelist made him up, people would |
| 1:01.6 | think it was spectacular. Chronicling the rise and fall of the Crypto King. That's Business Daily |
| 1:07.5 | with me, Vivienne Nunes, from the BBC. |
| 1:13.4 | Okay, keep going. |
| 1:14.4 | I mean, this is by the courthouse. |
| 1:17.7 | This is the sound of journalists jostling to enter Manhattan's Federal Court. |
| 1:22.8 | The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried has attracted so much attention from the world's media and the public, |
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