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Behind Sam Bankman-Fried’s Journey From Hero to Handcuffs

The FTX co-founder, nicknamed SBF, appeared with world leaders and celebrities. But a new podcast series shows how this carefully staged production was about to fall apart.

Sam Bankman-Fried at SALT’s Crypto Bahamas 2022 conference

Photo illustration: 731; Photographer: Erika P. Rodriguez/The New York Times/Redux

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For a four-day conference on blockchain and decentralized finance, Crypto Bahamas in April 2022 was a surprisingly star-studded affair. Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom were there. So were Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. But the center of attention was one of the crypto world’s hottest figures: Sam Bankman-Fried.