WEBVTT - Listen Now: Spellcaster - The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried

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<v Speaker 1>Push Kim.

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<v Speaker 2>Hello listeners. If you've been enjoying our coverage of the

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<v Speaker 2>trial of Sam Bankman Freed so far and are looking

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<v Speaker 2>to dive even deeper into Sam's past, you should take

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<v Speaker 2>a listen to Wondery in Bloomberg's podcast Spellcaster, the Fall

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<v Speaker 2>of Sam Bankman Freed. His fall from grace represents one

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<v Speaker 2>of the most spectacular failures of corporate controls in American history.

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<v Speaker 2>Here interviews with Sam Bankman Freed himself and his former

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<v Speaker 2>girlfriend and business partner, Caroline Ellison, who later admitted something

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<v Speaker 2>had gone very wrong inside their operation. From Bloomberg and

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<v Speaker 2>Wondery comes Spelcaster, hosted by Bloomberg reporter Hannah Miller, now

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<v Speaker 2>with an all new bonus episode that takes you inside

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<v Speaker 2>the courtroom at Sam Bankman Fried's trial, including expert analysis,

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<v Speaker 2>what to watch for, and more behind the scenes reporting.

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<v Speaker 2>Here's a clip from Spelcaster. Follow Spellcaster on the Wondery

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<v Speaker 2>app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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<v Speaker 3>The Baja Maar Resort is a gargantuan hotel on a

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<v Speaker 3>gorgeous stretch of Bahama's beach front. You enter by crossing

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<v Speaker 3>a Roman style bridge over a landscaped lake where every

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<v Speaker 3>night there's a glitzy fountain show with pulsing lights and

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<v Speaker 3>extremely loud music. It's like the Bellagio on the Caribbean.

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<v Speaker 3>Take In Climb checked into the Baha mar one afternoon

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<v Speaker 3>in April of twenty twenty two.

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<v Speaker 1>So you arrive and there's a fish tank behind the

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<v Speaker 1>check and dusk.

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<v Speaker 3>A big vertical tank filled with lionfish.

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<v Speaker 1>To be more specific, there were signs for Cryptobahamas everywhere.

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<v Speaker 1>It really felt like the whole island was kind of

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<v Speaker 1>buzzing about this event.

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<v Speaker 3>Tagan was a twenty nine year old crypto entrepreneur and influencer.

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<v Speaker 3>She'd done a lot of these crypto conferences before, but

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<v Speaker 3>she didn't know much about this one called Crypto Bahamas,

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<v Speaker 3>other than that it was invite only and she'd agreed

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<v Speaker 3>to speak the event.

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<v Speaker 1>It almost had this dark fantasy Disneyland Vegas vibe to it,

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<v Speaker 1>and it really felt surreal from the moment that I landed.

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<v Speaker 3>She got her badge and was directed toward the VIP reception.

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<v Speaker 3>She walked out on the hotel lawn to find a

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<v Speaker 3>small gathering of people surrounded by cabanas and giant video screens.

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<v Speaker 3>A local marching band played in the background.

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<v Speaker 1>There was one big table. It was a long, rectangular

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<v Speaker 1>table set for about sixty people, So we kind of

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<v Speaker 1>cull us in the middle of that table and we

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<v Speaker 1>all talked together. It was a three course meal, no

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<v Speaker 1>caviat but definitely nice food.

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<v Speaker 3>The guests took turns introducing themselves. There were a lot

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<v Speaker 3>of the usual suspects hedge, fun guy, venture capital dude,

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<v Speaker 3>crypto bro. Then a woman sat down at the table.

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<v Speaker 1>She came with two guys and they were very nice.

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<v Speaker 1>They apologized for being late to the dinner.

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<v Speaker 3>Can recognize the woman right away. It was Katy Perry

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<v Speaker 3>has an international pop superstar, Katy Perry. Then the guy

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<v Speaker 3>next to her spoke of.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, I got famous from my role playing legalist

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<v Speaker 1>and Lord of the Rings, and it was actually Orlando Bloom.

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<v Speaker 3>But for this crowd, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom weren't

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<v Speaker 3>the biggest celebrities there. The next morning, Michael Lewis, the

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<v Speaker 3>world renowned business journalist, sat on stage with an awkward

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<v Speaker 3>looking thirty year old guy with a mop of curly hair,

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<v Speaker 3>wearing shorts and a baggy T shirt.

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<v Speaker 4>Three years ago, nobody knew who you were, and now

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<v Speaker 4>you're sitting on the cover of magazines and you're a

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<v Speaker 4>gazillionaire and you're.

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<v Speaker 3>This was who people were here to see, the co

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<v Speaker 3>founder and CEO of FTX, one of the world's largest

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<v Speaker 3>crypto exchanges. He was a billionaire many times over, a

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<v Speaker 3>prolific political donor, a boundary breaking philanthropist, and he does

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<v Speaker 3>it all in just a few years.

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<v Speaker 4>These are world This is your breaking land speed records,

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<v Speaker 4>and I don't think people are really noticing what's happened,

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<v Speaker 4>just how dramatic the revolution has become. There's a status

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<v Speaker 4>of people that's going on in the financial world, and

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<v Speaker 4>you're sitting right in the.

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<v Speaker 3>Middle of it. Sam Bankman Freed.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, I mean basically, And I think the way that

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<v Speaker 5>sort of I approached it was like, what should the

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<v Speaker 5>product be like?

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<v Speaker 3>You know, Lewis has written some of the definitive business

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<v Speaker 3>books of the past forty years, Moneyball, Liar's Poker, and

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<v Speaker 3>The Big Short. He has spent a lifetime sorting businesses,

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<v Speaker 3>good guys from the Charlatans, and on stage at least

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<v Speaker 3>he sounded impressed by what Sam Bankman Freed had accomplished.

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<v Speaker 3>And Sam didn't just sit with Michael Lewis. He was everywhere.

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<v Speaker 3>He shared the stage with former President Bill Clinton and

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<v Speaker 3>former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He had an intimate

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<v Speaker 3>heart to heart with Tom Brady, and then another with

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<v Speaker 3>the quarterback's then wife, Giselle Bunschin, the Brazilian supermodel.

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<v Speaker 5>Oh that's just done, you know, I mean, ultimately, the

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<v Speaker 5>scale of impact you can have on the world is

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<v Speaker 5>just really, really large.

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<v Speaker 3>Sam was beyond awkward. His leg bounced wildly as he spoke,

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<v Speaker 3>his eyes darted around the room, and.

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<v Speaker 5>You know, that's I think what really sets it apart.

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<v Speaker 3>His audience didn't seem to care. His awkwardness came off

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<v Speaker 3>as a kind of charm like he was totally indifferent

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<v Speaker 3>to what people thought about it, and they lapped it up,

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<v Speaker 3>especially when he talked about his driving motivation doing good.

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<v Speaker 3>Sam had promised to give all of his wealth away,

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<v Speaker 3>all twenty six billion dollars of it.

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<v Speaker 6>The Ftech Foundation's recent announcement to give up to one

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<v Speaker 6>billion dollars this year alone to high impact chair parties

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<v Speaker 6>show how Sam is transforming corporate governance and becoming the

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<v Speaker 6>modern day CEO that the world needs today.

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<v Speaker 3>We'll discuss on stage with Giselle. Salmon bailed a new

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<v Speaker 3>ad showing him standing with his arms crossed with a

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<v Speaker 3>calmly confident, even virtuous expression on his face. He wore

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<v Speaker 3>a hoodie and shorts. The quote on his ad said,

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<v Speaker 3>I'm in on crypto because I want to make the

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<v Speaker 3>biggest global impact for good. Taigan Klein had never seen

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<v Speaker 3>anything like it.

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<v Speaker 1>I think a lot of people were kind of in awe.

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<v Speaker 3>The crowd was captivated by Sam's good intentions, by the

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<v Speaker 3>celebrities and world leaders he kept company with, and the

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<v Speaker 3>sheer scale of his promises.

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<v Speaker 1>And this is where I realized that it was kind

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<v Speaker 1>of the Sam Show.

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<v Speaker 3>The Sam Show. The spring of twenty twenty two, Crypto

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<v Speaker 3>was booming and Sam Bankman Freed was the star. At

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<v Speaker 3>one point, FTX said it was processing on average, twelve

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<v Speaker 3>and a half billion dollars worth of transactions each day,

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<v Speaker 3>and it was all Sam claimed in the name of

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<v Speaker 3>one day giving his fortune away to save the world. Then,

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<v Speaker 3>not long after his star turn in the Bahamas, The

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<v Speaker 3>Sam Show began a very different season. Competitors and regulators

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<v Speaker 3>began to circle Crypto prices were falling. Behind the scenes,

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<v Speaker 3>Sam's closest advisors were abandoning him. At the same time,

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<v Speaker 3>my colleagues at Bloomberg started poking at the myth of

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<v Speaker 3>Sam Bankman freed, and we published stories about it. We

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<v Speaker 3>weren't the only ones, but even we couldn't imagine the

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<v Speaker 3>full scale of what was wrong inside Sam's empire. By

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<v Speaker 3>year's end, FTX was bankrupt, eight billion dollars were missing,

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<v Speaker 3>and Sam was in handcuffs. Investors, prosecutors, lawyers, and crypto

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<v Speaker 3>fans were all left to figure out what was real

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<v Speaker 3>and what wasn't.

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<v Speaker 2>Bingja episodes of Spellcaster ad free right now by joining

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<v Speaker 2>Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts.