In about three weeks, Netflix will release one of the first dramatizations of the saga surrounding cryptocurrency exchange FTX since its CEO, Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, was found guilty and sentenced to prison.
According to a Vanity Fair report on Wednesday, Anthony Boyle, the Irish actor who portrays SBF in the Netflix series “The Altruists,” contacted The former CEO in prison emailed as he prepared for the role. Although Boyle said he “promised him I wouldn’t reveal anything,” Bankman-Fried reportedly answered the majority of the actor’s questions before the series’ release.
“I was interested in what drove someone to become the youngest billionaire in the world,” Boyle said, according to Vanity Fair. “I’m not really interested in money, crypto or finance. It was about: What makes them do the things they do?”
Based on a trailer released by Netflix on October 8, the series appeared to revolve around the relationship between Bankman-Fried and his colleague and friend Caroline Ellison, who ran FTX’s sister arm Alameda Research. SBF was convicted of seven felonies related to the misuse of customer funds at FTX and sentenced to 25 years in prison, while Ellison was released in January after more than a year as part of a plea deal with US authorities.
Former FTX COO Constance Wang said that the executives’ on-screen portrayal left her “physically upset,” adding that SBF was more “socially awkward” than Boyle showed.
Bankman-Fried has been reported by multiple media outlets and was the subject of Michael Lewis’ 2023 book Go to infinity. Ben McKenzie’s documentary Everyone lies to you about money featured an interview with the former CEO in 2022 before the stock market collapse, but no other significant dramatization of SBF or FTX was released on the big screen or television until The Altruists.
Related: Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyer explains the former FTX CEO’s case before the Supreme Court
