When Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of fraud last week, the only surprise was how quickly the jury reached their verdict. John Lanchester joins Tom to discuss how the former crypto billionaire ended up facing a life sentence, from his early career in finance and embrace of Effective Altruism to the simple but audacious nature of his crime, and why he found himself in a US court, even though US citizens were banned from using his trading company, FTX.

Read John Lanchester on Sam Bankman-Fried: lrb.me/sbfpod

Read Rosemary Hill's pick from the LRB archive: lrb.me/rosemarypod

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