A new book from famed author Michael Lewis reveals that embattled ex-billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried once contemplated offering former US President Donald Trump a sizable amount to forgo his 2020 re-election campaign. An excerpt from Lewis’s upcoming book, “Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon,” published in the Washington Post on Sunday, delves into this bombshell claim.
According to the excerpt, Bankman-Fried had also contemplated contributing between $15 million to $30 million to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell. This was aimed at defeating Senate candidates who were aligned more closely with Trump’s ideologies.
Lewis detailed a conversation in which Bankman-Fried, while on a plane descending into Washington, opened up about investigating the legality of directly paying Trump to withdraw from the presidential race. Lewis wrote, “His team had created a covert communication channel with Trump’s camp and discovered that Trump might have a price – around $5 billion, as informed to Sam by his team.”
The segment from the book doesn’t delve into the reasons Bankman-Fried ultimately didn’t pursue this strategy.
Once a notable figure in the cryptocurrency world, Bankman-Fried, founder of the now-defunct FTX crypto exchange, is currently under scrutiny, facing seven counts of fraud and conspiracy related to the collapse of his exchange in November 2022. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted, he could face a maximum of 110 years in prison. However, the final duration would be determined by the presiding judge, taking into account various considerations, which could reduce the sentence considerably.
The unveiling of this revelation is timely, coinciding with the onset of Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial scheduled for this week.
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Ironically, Trump’s best chance of avoid criminal prosecution and civil harassment is to withdraw from the race, endorse someone friendly who is likely to win, and convince the Republicans to support a ban on “Lawfare” including politically motivated and selective prosecutions. Trump’s only hope of winning is that Biden runs, and if Biden drops out and the Democrats don’t implode, Trump may be in serious trouble.
Why “disgraced”??? If true, and had he been successful, he would now be considered a tzadik gamur and his picture would appear on bitcoins.
“… the book doesn’t delve into the reasons Bankman-Fried ultimately didn’t pursue this strategy.” a reasonable guess might be because $5 billion is a lot of money. especially for the guests of honour at their respective court proceedings for fraud.
Hah. He wanted to pay 5B and he got it for free.
Trump 2024 !!