Michael Lewis suffered a pretty significant hit to his reputation when FTX collapsed and SBF went to jail.
Lewis spent the months leading up to the implosion of FTX interviewing Sam Bankman-Fried. He had unfiltered access to the tycoon and the inner workings of the company. He even did a fawning interview of SBF at a major crypto conference, asking softball questions and revealing how he clearly either didn’t understand cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, or that SBF had pulled the wool over his eyes.
We wanted to see how bad Lewis’ new book actually was for ourselves. Here’s our take on Going Infinite.
Michael Lewis’ work can be placed into two categories, broadly speaking. First, he likes telling stories about earnest heroes working inside a corrupt system. The world doubts these heroes, but eventually the proof is in the pudding. See: Moneyball and The Premonition. Second, he spins yarns about insane and malfunctioning markets and how they eventually collapse or spin out of control. See The Big Short and Boomerang.
Lewis was confused about where to place SBF. Hindsight is 20/20, but Lewis seems to suggest that SBF honestly did not know how his company was run, or where all the billions of dollars went. Part of SBF’s mythology is that he did not care about the trappings of wealth. He didn’t cut his hair! He wore sandals and slept at the office! But he also shared a penthouse condo in the Bahamas with his coworkers and girlfriend. Lewis believes at face value SBF’s claims about effective altruism, omitting any obvious criticism of his private jet travel with celebrities or the exclusive parties that he attended.
Just guessing, but I imagine SBF felt pretty cool when Gisele put her arm around him.
There is one interesting story worth mentioning. Lewis flew on a private jet with SBF from the Bahamas to Washington DC. SBF was on his way to meet with leading political figures like Mitch McConnell, who wanted his political donations. SBF was predictably disorganized and didn’t have a suit & tie or any shoes. He spent part of the flight flipping popcorn into his mouth, leaving a huge mess behind when he got off the plane. In short, SBF was a juvenile slob. I couldn’t help but empathize with the assistant who no doubt had to clean up after him.
One last thing: apparently SBF tried to buy off Donald Trump from running again.
Overall I loved this book and would recommend it to others. Like all of what Lewis writes, Going Infinite is highly readable, and I could not put it down. However, buyer beware about a gullible author telling anecdotes at face value.
