HERO TO ZERO

He used pop stars, politicians and supermodels to convince the world to buy into his dodgy cryptocurrency scheme – now fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried faces up to 110 years behind bars

BY TOM LEONARD

‘THE CRYPTOCURRENCY INDUSTRY MIGHT BE NEW BUT THIS KIND OF FRAUD IS AS OLD AS TIME’ A TOP firm of Silicon Valley investors once boldly predicted that Sam Bankman-Fried could become the world’s “first trillionaire”. And yet the young business guru apparently disdained wealth. Pledging to give his money away, he famously only ever wore baggy shorts and old T-shirts, even when sharing a debating stage with heavyweights such as former American president Bill Clinton and former British prime minister Tony Blair. But now the heady talk of trillions and saving the planet has imploded in one of the biggest financial frauds on record. And the sloppily dressed American cryptocurrency entrepreneur, who was hailed by the business world as “an autistic genius” and up to a year ago was gracing the covers…

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You South Africa (Digital) - 1 Issue, 30 November 2023

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