TLDR
- In a “60 Minutes” interview, Michael Lewis revealed that Sam Bankman-Fried, the founding father of the failed crypto alternate FTX, thought of providing $5 billion to Donald Trump to stop him from working for President.
- Bankman-Fried, who now faces a number of federal expenses and is in detention, was beforehand a big political donor, giving thousands and thousands to each Democrats and Republicans.
In a riveting twist that’s positive to maintain political and monetary pundits busy for weeks, Michael Lewis, famend writer of ‘The Large Brief,’ has stirred the pot in a latest interview. Airing on “60 Minutes,” Lewis revealed that Sam Bankman-Fried, the beleaguered founding father of the now-defunct crypto alternate FTX, had thought of providing Donald Trump about $5 billion to dissuade him from working for the presidency. Furthermore, Lewis indicated that Bankman-Fried wasn’t solely positive if this distinctive electoral technique would even cross authorized muster.
A tumultuous fall from grace
As soon as hailed as a crypto wunderkind, Bankman-Fried’s empire unraveled in 2022, tarnishing a web price as soon as estimated at $26.5 billion by Forbes. His downfall culminated in a Chapter 11 chapter submitting for FTX, revealing its reliance on in-house crypto tokens as collateral. This dependency alarmed traders, particularly when cryptocurrency markets took successful. Presently, Bankman-Fried is confined in a Brooklyn detention heart, confronting seven federal expenses starting from wire fraud to conspiracy to commit cash laundering.
Bankman-Fried’s enigmatic political leanings have additionally raised eyebrows. Earlier than FTX’s implosion, the entrepreneur was an avid political donor, generously contributing $40 million to Democratic causes within the 2022 midterm elections. Nevertheless, he additionally confessed to being a big Republican donor. Consequently, his supposed willingness to pay Trump such a hefty sum provides one other perplexing layer to his already advanced persona.
Lewis claimed that Bankman-Fried was uncertain if the $5 billion quantity got here instantly from Trump. In line with Lewis, bankman-Fried additionally questioned the legality of paying Trump to not run.
Micheal Lewis: “There was a quantity that was kicking round. And the quantity that was kicking round after I was speaking to Sam about this was $5 billion.”
Considerably, Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Donald Trump, had a quick but scathing retort to Lewis’s allegations, labeling Bankman-Fried a “fraudster and somebody that may’t be trusted.” Bankman-Fried’s authorized representatives remained conspicuously silent, failing to answer weekend inquiries.
Nevertheless, even earlier than his monetary meltdown, Bankman-Fried sought to wield his wealth in an unconventional method. In line with Jon Wertheim, a correspondent for “60 Minutes,” Bankman-Fried wished to affect the 2024 elections otherwise. It’s this revelation that has set the rumor mill ablaze: Was the proposed $5 billion an earnest provide or simply speculative chatter? And regardless of the looming authorized battles, the query stays—would such an audacious political gambit even be lawful?
Subsequently, as Bankman-Fried prepares to face trial, this newest disclosure fuels ongoing debates in regards to the intersection of politics, enterprise, and ethics. Whereas authorized authorities probe Bankman-Fried’s previous donations to each Democrats and Republicans, this weird story provides an unprecedented look into the machinations of energy and cash.
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