Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried once looked into paying Donald Trump not to run for United States president, according to Michael Lewis, the author of a new book documenting the rise and fall of SBF.
Michael Lewis, author of “Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon,” spoke about the former crypto billionaire and FTX founder in a 60 Minutes interview on Oct. 1.
One of the revelations in the book is that SBF looked into paying Donald Trump not to run for president. “That only shocks you if you don’t know Sam,” said Lewis before adding:
“Sam’s thinking that we could pay Donald Trump not to run for president […] like how much would it take?”
“The number that was kicking around was $5 billion,” he added before saying that SBF was unsure if that number came directly from Donald Trump.
SBF was also looking into the legality of it, according to Lewis, who added that “they were still having these conversations when FTX blew up.”
It just didn’t happen because Bankman-Fried didn’t have the $5 billion any longer, he added.
lol what??
SBF was trying to pay Trump $5 billion not to run again. pic.twitter.com/ffbmfI3R9F
— Brad Michelson (@BradMichelson) October 2, 2023
According to Lewis, SBF saw Trump as trying to undermine democracy in the United States, thinking he “belongs on the list of existential risks.”
Lewis spent more than 70 days in the Bahamas on a dozen different trips to visit SBF in 2022 and the pair became close. “I would stay in spare bedrooms, so I had codes to every room including the penthouse,” he told the WSJ.
Speaking on the fallout following the collapse of FTX in November 2022, he said:
“It was like the aftermath of Pompeii. Clothes and belongings left behind, frozen in time. Many headed to the airport leaving company cars with the keys inside at the curb.”
Cointelegraph contacted legal representatives for Sam Bankman-Fried and Donald Trump. Mark Botnik, who handles communications for the SBF case, said there was no comment from his legal team.
Related: How long could Sam Bankman-Fried go to jail for? Crypto lawyers weigh in
According to the trial schedule calendar released last week, the high-profile Sam Bankman-Fried trial begins on Oct. 3 with jury selection. The trial begins on Oct. 4.
The trial will involve seven fraud cases against SBF, two substantive charges where the prosecution must convince the jury that Bankman-Fried committed the crime, and five other conspiracy charges.
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Global trade tensions triggered by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff measures may come to an end with a potential deal with China as investors remain concerned about escalation from both sides. Trump’s April 2 announcement of reciprocal import tariffs sent shockwaves through global equity and crypto markets. The measures include a 10% baseline tariff on all imported goods, effective April 5, with higher levies — such as a 34% tariff on Chinese imports — set to begin on April 9. However, the tariff negotiations may only be “posturing” for the US to reach an agreement with China, according to Raoul Pal, founder and CEO of Global Macro Investor. “In the end, almost all the other tariff negotiations and rhetoric are all about getting China to agree a deal,” Pal wrote in an April 8 X post, adding: “That is the big prize and both China and the US understand it and need it. Everything else is negotiation posturing. China needs a weaker $ and the US needs tariffs.” Source: Raoul Pal “Also, the US is trying to shut down China tariff arbitrage using other channels such as Mexico or Vietnam,” Pal said. Related: Bitcoin price can hit $250K in 2025 if Fed shifts to QE: Arthur Hayes Considering China’s latest retaliatory measures, a resolution remains unlikely in the short term. In response to US tariffs, China imposed a 34% tariff on all US imports effective April 10, media outlet Xinhua News reported on April 4. China’s foreign ministry also vowed to “fight till the end” against Trump’s tariffs, which it called “bullying” by the world’s largest economy. China overtakes the US in global trade. Source: Econovis China overtook the US in 2012 to become the world’s largest trading nation by the total value of exports and imports, surpassing $4 trillion in goods trade that year, according to The Guardian. As the trade dispute continues to evolve, analysts say a potential agreement between the two global superpowers could serve as a key catalyst for recovery in digital asset markets. Crypto markets have a 70% chance to bottom by June 2025 before recovering, Nansen analysts predicted. Related: Crypto market bottom likely by June despite tariff fears: Finance Redefined Investor appetite for risk assets such as Bitcoin will depend on the global tariff responses from other countries, according to Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at Nansen. “We have reached somewhat of a local bottom in regard to tariffs and the impact on prices,” the analyst said during Cointelegraph’s Chainreaction live show on X, adding: “Trump came out guns blazing, and we’ve mostly seen the worst from the US side, so we’ll see if other countries are willing to drop some of the tariffs because it’s very likely the US will do the same.” Magazine: Bitcoin ATH sooner than expected? XRP may drop 40%, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 23 – 29
A Nigerian court has reportedly delayed the country’s tax evasion case against Binance until April 30 to give time for Nigeria’s tax authority to respond to a request from the crypto exchange. Reuters reported on April 7 that a lawyer for Binance, Chukwuka Ikwuazom, asked a court the same day to invalidate an order allowing for court documents to be served to the company via email. Binance doesn’t have an office in Nigeria and Ikwuazom claimed the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) didn’t get court permission to serve court documents to Binance outside the country. “On the whole the order for the substituted service as granted by the court on February 11, 2025 on Binance who is … registered under the laws of Cayman Islands and resident in Cayman Islands is improper and should be set aside,” he said. FIRS sued Binance in February, claiming the exchange owed $2 billion in back taxes and should be made to pay $79.5 billion for damages to the local economy as its its operations allegedly destabilized the country’s currency, the naira, which Binance denies. It also reportedly alleged that Binance is liable to pay corporate income tax in Nigeria, as it has a “significant economic presence” there, with FIRS requesting a court order for the exchange to pay income taxes for 2022 and 2023, plus a 10% annual penalty on unpaid amounts along with a nearly a 27% interest rate on the unpaid taxes. In February 2024, Nigeria arrested and detained Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla on tax fraud and money laundering charges. The country dropped the tax charges against both in June and the remaining charge against Gambaryan in October. Tigran Gambaryan (right) was seen in a September video struggling to walk into a courtroom in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Source: X Anjarwalla managed to slip his guards and escape Nigerian custody to Kenya in March last year and is apparently still at large. Related: Binance exec shares details about release from Nigerian detention Gambaryan, a US citizen, returned home in October after reports suggested his health had deteriorated during his detainment with reported cases of pneumonia, malaria and a herniated spinal disc that may need surgery. Binance stopped its naira currency deposits and withdrawals in March 2024, effectively leaving the Nigerian market. Magazine: Trash collectors in Africa earn crypto to support families with ReFi
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China retaliates with new tariffs
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Nigeria’s legal history with Binance
