• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

A.I.

Sometime in early November, we’ll get an answer to the biggest question of the trial: whether Sam Bankman-Fried testifies, himself, which might not be decided until fairly late in the process.

S.B.F.’s Expected Value Calculation

There are two reasons why Sam let this get to trial, and why he thinks he has a chance at a miraculous outcome. Plus: Reid Hoffman’s war against No Labels, and a new hire at Y Combinator.
Theodore Schleifer • October 3, 2023
Theodore Schleifer • September 26, 2023
S.B.F.’s McConnell Money Tickle, Part 2
As the trial of the century looms, three scoops shed new light on how Sam Bankman-Fried, and even former paramour Caroline Ellison, were part of the McConnell-DeSantis matrix.
Theodore Schleifer • September 20, 2023
Trump’s Perfect Thiel Call & Two FTX Bombshells
donald trump
Dish on Trump’s furious fundraising request to Peter Thiel, the former lawyer buying up FTX bankruptcy claims, and an explosive lawsuit targeting S.B.F.’s parents.
Sam Bankman-Fried
Eriq Gardner • September 18, 2023
S.B.F. Is Blaming It All on the Lawyers
Bankman-Fried is relying, in part, on a complicated and risky advice-of-counsel strategy. It might lead to one of the more dramatic courtroom moments in recent legal history.
SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, on June 16, 2023. (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP) (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images)
Baratunde Thurston • September 17, 2023
Elon’s Star Power & Apple’s New Era
Musk’s interventions in Ukraine are just one example of the risks of allowing private enterprise to replace public goods. Plus, three takeaways from Apple’s latest product showcase.
Theodore Schleifer • September 13, 2023
The Silicon Valley Fundraising Stampede
Biden, DeSantis, and Scott will swing by the Bay Area later this month to pass the hat among tech execs.
Ryan Salame always stood out as the linen-and-loafered bro among the Math Camp crowd that surrounded S.B.F.
Theodore Schleifer • September 12, 2023
Inside the Fall of S.B.F.’s Big Cool Buddy
The backstory to the yearlong back-and-forth between prosecutors and Ryan Salame, the Berkshires restaurateur and Republican mega-donor who fought the feds for as long as he could—before folding.
Selena Gomez will be seeking at least $10 million in compensatory damages in a lawsuit with implication for A.I.-related legal battles to come.
Eriq Gardner • September 11, 2023
Hollywood’s Digital Botox Dilemma
As the A.I. age beckons, three cases could make or break an emerging industry: Selena Gomez’s digital doppelganger, the Grammys fallout from a Drake deepfake, and a face-tuning legal trap.
The city was Jan Sramek’s brainchild, but he probably couldn’t have gotten the ball rolling without Sir Mike Moritz, who became the linchpin of the plan.
Theodore Schleifer • September 6, 2023
Mike Moritzopolis
The legendary investor is knee-deep in an epic third act that combines being a modern Ron Conway, a civic-minded political organizer, mega-philanthropist, and the full-blown Robert Moses of Northern California.
Democratic analytics startup Deck is headed to the S.B.F. ash heap
Theodore Schleifer • August 23, 2023
Tales from the S.B.F. Bankruptcy Black Hole
How a Democratic startup, Deck, got trapped in M&A purgatory between FTX, Zuckerberg, Rory Gates, and the billionaire philanthropy-industrial complex.
For Ryan Salame to flip on Sam Bankman-Fried would suggest, symbolically at least, that his goose is cooked.
Theodore Schleifer • August 16, 2023
The Salame Witch Trial
Will S.B.F.’s former lieutenant finally succumb to the feds’ relentless pressure to flip? Or have tales of his demise been greatly exaggerated?
Until somewhat recently, even Tim Scott could only guess what Larry Ellison’s total pledge might be.
Theodore Schleifer • August 8, 2023
Larry Ellison’s Eight-Figure Anti-Trump Dowry
From the start, Ellison stood alone in his unwavering support for Tim Scott. Now, a still-secret eight-figure check promises to turn the candidate into a Late Stage DeSantis alternative for the Wall Street and Silicon Valley crowd.
For Elon’s super app to thrive in the U.S. today, it would have to wrangle meaningful market share from specialized services that consumers rely on, a devilishly difficult task.
Baratunde Thurston • August 6, 2023
Silicon Valley & The Race for the Everything App
Elon Musk is the latest tech brainiac hoping to build a Chinese-style super app, this time on the bones of Twitter. Too bad Apple already got there first.
Ron DeSantis’s donor roll has a striking absence of notable Silicon Valley names.
Theodore Schleifer • August 2, 2023
DeSantis’s Donor Disappointment & S.B.F.’s Forever Purgatory
The ’24 kingmakers in Silicon Valley have at last been revealed, and this cycle is full of surprises—think Jan Koum, not Elon Musk. Plus, are Bankman-Fried’s former political allies finally off the hook?
Ken Griffin has always been a politically aware center-right rich guy, sure, but he’s ascended to a new level on the G.O.P. donor Mount Rushmore after Trump.
Theodore Schleifer & William D. Cohan • July 25, 2023
Griffin vs. Dimon & The S.B.F. Delusion
A conversational power ranking of the top donors on Wall Street: Effron, Fink, Wolf, Schwarzman, and more. Plus notes on Ken Griffin’s DeSantis bet, Dimon’s ’24 flirtation, and whether S.B.F. is destined for the clink.
Ryan Salame and Michelle Bond were not married, even if they appeared to spend practically every waking moment together, traipsing about Greek community festivals and luxury car races.
Theodore Schleifer • July 19, 2023
An S.B.F. Arm Twist for Crypto’s Bonnie & Clyde
How Ryan Salame and Michelle Bond, the Potomac power couple fueled by FTX money, found themselves in the crosshairs of federal prosecutors and a jilted ex-husband with a joint interest in their downfall.
Peter Thiel had been a fixation in G.O.P. donor circles—a potential bottomless-pocketed heir to Sheldon Adelson or the Koch brothers.
Theodore Schleifer • July 11, 2023
Thiel, Brock & A Gutter Oppo Campaign for Our Times
When Peter Thiel emerged as the right’s potential heir to Sheldon Adelson during the ’22 midterms, a highly connected Democratic operative launched a guerilla opposition research campaign to chill his political influence. What happened next was sordid, and ultimately tragic, but also a telling reflection of a new era in political combat.
Theodore Schleifer • June 27, 2023
Wall Street ’24 Bets & Chris Christie’s Cornermen
Inside dish on the latest presidential dark-money shenanigans and G.O.P. donor games as the first major fundraising quarter draws to a close.