Guest: Michael Lewis, journalist and author

In 2019, Sam Bankman-Fried set up a crypto exchange called FTX. Over the course of two years, as the price of crypto skyrocketed, so did his fortune, until it was estimated at as much as $26.5 billion U.S. SBF, as he became known, was feted by celebrities from football star Tom Brady to comedian Larry David. Then, in November 2022, it all came crashing down. SBF was accused of diverting $8 billion of investors’ money from FTX to his hedge fund Alameda Research, and making huge purchases, including more than $100 million in political donations. At just 31, he is now in U.S. court on seven fraud charges in the first of several trials. (This one expected to run six weeks.) Michael Lewis, journalist and author of such bestselling books as “The Big Short” and “Moneyball,” was in the position of following Bankman-Fried throughout his rise and spectacular fall and has just published a book on the subject, “Going Infinite.” Lewis joins “This Matters.”

This episode was produced by Sean Pattendon, Brian Bradley and Deborah Dundas.