The FTX And Sam Bankman-Fried Debacle Bestseller Is Already In The Works

While we all count those with the most to lose as the fallout from the epic collapse of crypto exchange FTX continues to spread, one agent seems ready to start a bidding war for the story from a bestselling author in the right place at the right time.

Non-fiction scribe Michael Lewis, of “The Big Short” and “Liar’s Poker” fame, has been spending time with now disgraced crypto wunderkind Sam Bankman-Fried, who saw his empire collapse with astonishing speed this month.

Commonly known as SBF, Bankman-Fried helmed FTX and hedge fund Alameda Research, both recently considered titans of the crypto industry. In the space of a few days, a liquidity crunch led to a catastrophic collapse followed by bankruptcy and now a criminal investigation is under way in the Bahamas where FTX is headquartered.

And in the months leading up to this most spectacular turnabout in the brief history of crypto, Lewis was tagging along with SBF and taking notes for his next book project. Lewis has been spotted with the billionaire in recent months, including interviewing him at a conference in the Bahamas.

Now with all the drama and billions of value evaporating, Lewis’ agent has decided to strike will the iron is hot.

A letter has been circulating in recent days that was originally obtained by The Ankler and was drafted by agent Matthew Snyder from CAA, who represents Lewis. The email confirms that SBF will be the main character in Lewis’ next book.

“Of course, the events of the past week have provided a dramatic ending to the story,” the letter reads. “Michael hasn’t written anything yet, but the story has become too big for us to wait.”

The subtext is pretty clear: place your bid.

Whatever the final result, it’s going to take much longer to materialize than it took FTX to fall apart.

Ironically, SBF himself might be the last to read it. As the disgraced founder himself said in one exchange originally published in September, he “would never read a book.”