In about three weeks, Netflix is set to release one of the first dramatizations of the saga of cryptocurrency exchange FTX since its CEO, Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, was found guilty and sentenced to prison.
According to a Wednesday Vanity Fair report, Anthony Boyle, the Irish actor portraying SBF on screen for the Netflix series ‘The Altruists,’ contacted the former CEO in prison via email as he prepared for the role. Although Boyle said he “promised him that I wouldn’t divulge anything,” Bankman-Fried reportedly answered the bulk of the actor’s questions ahead of the series’ release.
“I was interested in what possessed someone to become the world’s youngest billionaire,” said Boyle, according to Vanity Fair. “I’m not really interested in money or crypto or finance. It was: What makes them do the things that they do?”
Based on a trailer Netflix released on Oct. 8, the series appeared to be centered on the relationship between Bankman-Fried and his colleague and girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, who headed FTX’s sister arm, Alameda Research. SBF was convicted of seven felony counts related to the misuse of customer funds at FTX and sentenced to 25 years in prison, while Ellison was released in January after serving more than a year as part of a plea deal with US authorities.
Former FTX COO Constance Wang said that the on-screen portrayal of the executives made her “feel physically upset,” adding that SBF was more “socially awkward” than Boyle demonstrated.
Bankman-Fried has already been covered by several media outlets and was the subject of Michael Lewis’ 2023 book Going Infinite. Ben McKenzie’s documentary Everyone Is Lying to You for Money included a 2022 interview with the former CEO before the exchange’s downfall, but no other significant dramatization of SBF or FTX has been released on the big screen or television until The Altruists.
Related: Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyer lays out ex-FTX CEO’s Supreme Court case