Big Short author to bring rise and fall of Bankman-Fried to big screen

A book and film are expected to be made about the spectacular rise and fall of crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried and his exchange FTX.

Michael Lewis, who wrote best-sellers The Big Short and Moneyball, both of which were made into movies starring Brad Pitt, recently met Bankman-Fried who is under house arrest on fraud charges.

Lewis, 62, spoke to the former crypto billionaire for several hours last week at Bankman-Fried’s parents’ home in California.

The collaboration has been ongoing for six months, the New York Post reported, during which time Bankman-Fried suffered a spectacular fall from grace. 

The 30-year-old touted as the crypto sector’s wunderkind shared conference stages with the likes of Tony Blair and Bill Clinton.

Despite being worth nearly £22billion at his peak, his fortunes unravelled when FTX filed for bankruptcy last month after a bid to raise £8billion funding failed. 

The billionaire stepped down as head of FTX on the day of the collapse and was arrested in the Bahamas this month. 

The US Department of Justice say he orchestrated ‘one of the biggest financial frauds in American history’.

Bankman-Fried has been released on £200million bail and awaits trial on fraud and money laundering charges. 

The former crypto boss is accused of stealing billions from FTX customers to offset losses at his hedge fund Alameda Research.

He is to fly back to New York for a court hearing next week, his prospects complicated after two associates agreed to testify against him.

Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend and the former head of Alameda, and Gary Wang, the co-founder of FTX, have admitted guilt and agreed to cooperate with an probe into the fraud that led to the exchange’s abrupt collapse.