‘The Big Short’ Author Reveals He’s Been Hanging With Fallen Crypto Whiz for Last 6 Months

Michael Lewis sure knows how to pick his projects. When the Moneyball author began following Sam Bankman-Fried around half a year ago, he couldn’t have predicted the spectacular crash-and-burn of the onetime crypto poster boy’s exchange platform FTX in the last week—or maybe he did, and he needs to tell us all where he buys his crystal balls. In an email sent around Hollywood on Saturday, Lewis’ rep Matthew Snyder revealed Bankman-Fried as the subject of the acclaimed author’s next book. As part of that project, Lewis “has been traveling with and interviewing” the 30-year-old over roughly the last six months, Snyder explained. “Michael hasn’t written anything yet, but the story has become too big for us to wait,” the agent added, presumably between backflips. Snyder suggested that Lewis plans to hone in on “the rivalry” between Bankman-Fried and Changpeng Zhao, the owner of Binance. (The world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance made a high-profile escape from a deal to acquire FTX on Tuesday, citing “corporate due diligence.”) Of Bankman-Fried and Zhao, respectively, “Michael likens them to the Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader of crypto,” Snyder wrote.