On the Cover of New York Magazine: The Week Sam Bankman-Fried Fell to Earth

On the Cover: Sam Bankman-Fried in August. Photograph by Sasha Arutyunova.

This week’s cover story tracks the fall of Sam Bankman-Fried, the man who pitched himself as a humanity-saving crypto genius and wound up losing $32 billion. To finance big bets on crypto companies, SBF promised investors high returns and zero risk. His cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, minted tons of its own token, which SBF reportedly used as collateral to take out loans for Alameda Research, his other company. This was shady and dangerous, because it meant that if the price of the token fell below a certain level, it would leave Alameda unable to pay back its lenders. And apparently, SBF had given himself a $1 billion personal loan out of Alameda's coffers. In short, Lane Brown explains, "A silly-haired wizard sold magic beans. The villagers loved it! Until they stopped believing in magic and demanded their money back, only to find out that the wizard had already spent it."

READ THE COVER STORY »

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Still to Come From This Issue

On Vulture

• Rebecca Alter got herself cast in a Lifetime Christmas movie to investigate the holiday-movie industrial complex. (Online Wednesday)  

On Curbed

• The Look Book goes to Kathy Hochul's victory party. (Online Thursday)

• Our design editor says good-bye to a 27-year-loved apartment. (Online next Monday)

On the Strategist

• The best vintage stores for men in New York. (Online Thursday) 

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