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Sam Bankman-Fried Considered Paying Trump $5B Not to Run for President: Book

The disgraced crypto tycoon allegedly went as far as “exploring the legality” of such a payoff.

Accused fraudster and former billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried considered paying Donald Trump not to run for re-election in 2024, according to an excerpt of an upcoming forthcoming book. A passage from Michael Lewis’ book Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon published Sunday in The Washington Post claims that SBF considered another Trump presidency an “existential threat to humanity” and that he explored “the legality of paying Donald Trump himself not to run for president.” According to Lewis, Bankman-Fried’s “team had somehow created a back channel into the Trump operation and returned with the not terribly Earth-shattering news that Donald Trump might indeed have his price: $5 billion. Or so Sam was told by his team.” In an interview with 60 Minutes, Lewis said “they were still having these conversations when FTX blew up” in November 2022. “So why didn’t it happen? [Bankman-Fried] didn’t have $5 billion anymore,” Lewis added.