Michael Lewis Already Selling Movie Rights for Book on FTX’s Meltdown

Michael Lewis, writer of Moneyball and The Big Short, has been following FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried for the previous six months to jot down his subsequent ebook. And whereas the potential ending of Lewis’s ebook has clearly modified up to now week since FTX’s $32 billion implosion, Lewis is already procuring across the film rights, based on a brand new report from The Ankler.

Matthew Snyder from expertise company CAA, which represents Lewis, reportedly despatched round an e mail on Friday to Hollywood bigwigs explaining that Lewis has been interviewing Bankman-Fried for months. Lewis and Bankman-Fried have been speaking about every part from the FTX founder’s childhood to his first successes on Wall Street, and it appears sure that Lewis could have the within story on every part that occurred earlier than FTX filed for chapter on Friday.

“Of course, the events of the past week have provided a dramatic surprise ending to the story. It also highlighted the rivalry between Bankman-Fried and Binance head Chnagpeng [sic] Zhao. Michael likens them to the Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader of crypto,” the e-mail by Snyder reads, based on a screenshot revealed by The Ankler.

“Michael hasn’t written anything yet, but the story has become too big for us to wait. Let me know if I’ve piqued your interest,” the e-mail continued.

The misspelled reference to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, or CZ as he’s usually identified, refers to how CZ’s actions despatched FTX right into a tailspin. CZ purchased a 20% stake in FTX again in 2019 however he had a falling out with Bankman-Fried, based on Reuters. When Bankman-Fried purchased out CZ’s stake in FTX in mid-2021 it was largely with FTX’s native token, FTT. CZ offered $580 million of that token final week, which despatched the home of playing cards tumbling to the bottom.

Lewis had hinted over the summer time that he was on to one thing massive, telling Financial News that he’d been launched to somebody inside the crypto trade by a mutual pal.

“I really don’t want to reveal exactly what I’m writing about. But I found a character through whom I can write about—it weirdly links up Flash Boys, The Big Short and Liar’s Poker,” Lewis informed Financial News again in August, referring to his different books.

“I’m essentially over the next year going to be at this person’s hip. I don’t know quite what the story looks like yet,” Lewis stated.

We now know that individual was certainly Sam Bankman-Fried. And it’s unclear what sort of entry Lewis has now that shit has actually hit the fan.

The 30-year-old Bankman-Fried based FTX in 2019, a crypto change that grew to a valuation of $32 billion in an incredibly brief period of time. SBF, as he’s usually known as, turned a billionaire whereas promoting himself as an moral wealthy man. He was a promoter of “effective altruism,” supposedly giving freely thousands and thousands annually, and is a vegan who donated to largely left-leaning political causes, together with President Joe Biden.

But all of it got here crashing down final week, thanks largely to Bankman-Fried allegedly shifting billions of {dollars} in FTX buyer funds to sister group Alameda Research, the place he made bets he couldn’t cowl. Both the SEC and DOJ reportedly opened investigations into the previous billionaire, even earlier than the corporate filed for chapter on Friday. To make issues even weirder, FTX was supposedly “hacked” over the weekend and had about $600 million in crypto drained.

Bankman-Fried, who was personally value about $26 billion at his peak, is outwardly nonetheless within the Bahamas, the place FTX was primarily based, although there are rumors he’s making an attempt to flee to a rustic with out an extradition treaty with the U.S.—a transfer that might clearly make for an excellent scene in any film that’s finally produced.

Michael Lewis is not any stranger to Hollywood and the rights to his work are just about assured to fetch a fairly penny. The writer’s ebook Moneyball was tailored to the massive display for Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill in 2011, and his ebook The Big Short was tailored for Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, and Christian Bale in 2015. Both films had been enormous hits, with Moneyball taking in $110 million on a finances of $50 million and The Big Short grossing $133 million on a finances of $50 million.

Aside from the record-breaking velocity of FTX’s implosion, the story of Bankman-Fried’s downfall has loads of moments that any screenwriter would love, together with a 10-person romantic relationship and rumors of widespread amphetamine use. Well, not a lot rumors as tweets posted very publicly by Caroline Ellison, the pinnacle of Alameda Research and a romantic accomplice of Bankman-Fried.

Lewis may even certainly have loads of materials to work from in relation to Bankman-Fried’s household historical past. Both of the crypto founder’s dad and mom are blue on Wikipedia: Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman are professors at Stanford Law School. His aunt, Linda P. Fried, can also be dean at Columbia University’s faculty of public well being.

There are additionally little tidbits from previous interviews with Bankman-Fried that at the moment are surfacing as bizarre particulars that will or could not make the film. For occasion, Bankman-Fried gave an interview the place he defined that he thought books had been for losers. Seriously.

“I’m very skeptical of books. I don’t want to say no book is ever worth reading, but I actually do believe something pretty close to that. I think, if you wrote a book, you fucked up, and it should have been a six-paragraph blog post,” Bankman-Fried is quoted as saying in an interview that’s since been deleted from the internet.

Maybe SBF ought to’ve opened a ebook or two about how ponzi schemes prove. It’s often not nice for the individuals who run them.