Chronicling Luke Skywalker And Darth Vader, Bestselling Author Michael Lewis Has Book In Works Covering Sam Bankman-Fried and Changpeng Zhao

With the world fascinated and intrigued by the story of FTX and its co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, many have wondered how long it will take until a movie or series on the storyline pops up in theaters or on a streaming platform.

Good news for those wanting a movie, the first step could be happening with a book reportedly in the works from an award-winning author.

What Happened: Cryptocurrency platform FTX declared bankruptcy last week, a move that was preceded by the decline of the FTX Token FTT/USD and other leading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD.

The bankruptcy also came after rival Binance had a pending acquisition for FTX that it ultimately called off.

Reports circulated over the weekend indicate that bestselling author Michael Lewis has been following Bankman-Fried for the last six months and could have a book in the works.

An email from talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has been sent to parties to drum up demand for the book and potential movie rights, according to a report from The Ankler, who obtained the email from CAA agent Matthew Snyder.

“Michael Lewis’ next book is about Sam Bankman-Fried. Email from CAA confirms he has been embedded with him for the last 6 months; note below was first sent to potential buyers for filmed rights,” Ankler Media CEO and founder Janice Min tweeted.

In the email, the book by Lewis would focus on many aspects of Bankman-Fried’s life, including his childhood and founding FTX. Another plotline would be the rivalry between the FTX CEO and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao comparing the two to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader respectively.

"For the past six months or so, author Michael Lewis has been traveling with and interviewing Sam Bankman-Fried. His childhood, early success on Wall Street, embrace of effective altruism and the creation of a crypto empire that catapulted him in record time into the ranks of the richest people in the world seemed more than sufficient for a signature Michael Lewis book,” the email read.

The email said that Lewis has not written the book yet, but the agency said the story was too big to wait.

“Of course, the events of the past week have provided a dramatic surprise ending to the story. It also highlighted the rivalry between Bankman-Fried and Binance head Changpeng Zhao. Michael likens them to the Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader of crypto.”

Lewis hinted at cryptocurrency being the subject of his next book during an interview with Financial News.

“I really don’t want to reveal exactly what I’m writing about, but I found a character through whom I can write about – it weirdly links up 'Flash Boys,' 'The Big Short' and 'Liar’s Poker,'” Lewis said.

Lewis said the new book could be considered a crypto book, but won’t be completely about crypto and more about a “really unusual character.”

“You’ll learn all about crypto and you’ll learn about what screwed up market structure in the United States and so on.”

Related Link: How To Lose $16 Billion In 3 Days, How Sam Bankman-Fried's Wealth Disappeared 

Why It’s Important: The book could put an interesting spin on the Bankman-Fried saga and also pick sides in the battle between the FTX co-founder and the Binance CEO.

As Benzinga previously reported, a tweet from Bankman-Fried could have set off Zhao to announce Binance would be selling the FTX token.

The sale of the token led to a huge liquidity crisis for FTX and ultimately led to Binance swooping in with an offer to buy the company for $1 before walking away and seeing Bankman-Fried resign as CEO and declare bankruptcy.

Lewis comparing Bankman-Fried to Luke Skywalker will likely face some public pushback, as people lost millions of dollars from FTX and have been unable to withdraw their money.

A Bankman-Fried interview with Lewis and an old tweet thread by the FTX co-founder praising the book “Moneyball” by the author were highlighted on Twitter Sunday by those discussing the potential book on Bankman-Fried.

Lewis is best known as the author of “Moneyball: The Art of Winning and Unfair Game,” “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game” and “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.” The three books were turned into movies that were distributed by Sony Group Corp SONY, Warner Bros. Discovery SONY and Paramount Global PARAPARAA respectively. "The Big Short" covered the 2008 financial crisis that was predicted by Michael Burry. 

“The Big Short” and “Moneyball” grossed over $70 million domestically each and were well represented at the Academy Awards. “The Blind Side” grossed $256 million domestically.

The book and movie rights will likely see strong interest and could provide more details of the current FTX saga years from now.

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