FTX founder mulled giving Trump $5B not to run for president, says author

cointelegraph.com:

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:

“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

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:

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

A