Netflix’s FTX showrunner says SBF and Caroline Ellison were altruists from day one

Netflix released the trailer for “The Altruists” on October 8. Creator Graham Moore said Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison wanted to do good before they committed fraud.

Julia Garner and Anthony Boyle lead an eight-episode series out November 19

“I genuinely believe that both Sam and Caroline were deeply committed altruists from day one, who set out to do as much good for as many people as they could in their lives,” Moore said.

Over the years the show covers, he said, the pair, “with the very best of intentions, talked each other and themselves into committing a number of terrible crimes.”

Moore says it began with a “little white lie” that turned into a “slightly bigger lie,” then another. Co-showrunner Jacqueline Hoyt said the two “almost dared and cajoled each other into building up this enormous company that was going to change the world,” ending with “tearing an $8 billion hole in FTX.”

The limited series of 8 episodes is coming to Netflix November 19. Ellison is played by Julia Garner and Bankman-Fried by Anthony Boyle.

The synopsis from Netflix itself depicts it as “a toxic love story inspired by a real fraud.” Barack and Michelle Obama executive produce through Higher Ground Productions and Hudson Williams co-stars with Paul Reiser and Jennifer Grey.

The trailer shows the pair, in their 20s, bonding over a plan to “save the world” with a crypto business “that earns to give.” It garnered 4.2 million views within seven hours and the most-shared responses from crypto accounts focused on the casting and accuracy.

Garner had just two recordings of Ellison to analyze. Boyle had a lot of videos, audio and TikToks.

Moore told both actors not to do impressions, but to create three-dimensional characters. The leads had only talked on the phone before their first rehearsal and Moore says he started crying 30 seconds in.

Moore wrote “The Imitation Game” and “The Outfit.” Hoyt’s credits include “The Leftovers” and “The Underground Railroad.”

The Second Circuit upheld the conviction on June 12

Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 on seven felony counts, among them wire fraud and conspiracy.

Ellison entered a guilty plea and cooperated with prosecutors. She was given a 24-month sentence and spent more than a year in prison.

Bankman-Fried is now serving a 25-year sentence.

He withdrew a separate new-trial motion in April, informing Judge Lewis Kaplan he might refile it after his direct appeal was over. The Second Circuit upheld his conviction and denied his request for a new trial before a different judge on June 12.

In September, he asked the Supreme Court to review the conviction and an $11 billion forfeiture order.

He persists in denying he committed fraud. In a June prison phone interview he claimed customers have been repaid about 170% of their deposits.

He has also lodged a formal request for clemency with the White House. In January, Trump said that he had no plans to pardon Bankman-Fried, Cryptopolitan reported.