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A.I.

As the public bickered over what would constitute a bailout for SVB, Ron Conway, a political mega-connector, felt he was uniquely positioned to help foam the runway.

The Ron Conway Bailout

Was the insidery uber-angel the factor—with his last-minute call to Kamala, intimate dinners with Obama, and furtive emails to Andreessen—in getting the White House to truly perceive the horrors of an SVB collapse?
Theodore Schleifer • March 14, 2023
Theodore Schleifer & Eriq Gardner • March 7, 2023
Will S.B.F. Cut a Deal?
Prosecutors may see the case against Sam Bankman-Fried as Bernie Madoff 2.0, but S.B.F.’s got good lawyers.
A close reading of the latest developments and looming mysteries: Can S.B.F. flip on a politician? Is Ryan Salame the next FTX insider to plead guilty? What will happen to the parents, Barbara and Joe, and to the brother, G.B.F? And will the case even make it to trial?
Baratunde Thurston • March 5, 2023
Me, Myself, & A.I.
OpenAI C.E.O. Sam Altman, announcing ChatGPT’s integration with Microsoft Bing.
Billions of dollars are rushing into another high-tech hype cycle, this time around ChatGPT and other large language models. This time, it’s different.
aHigh-ranking FTX executives Ryan Salame and Nishad Singh appear central to an alleged straw-donor scheme quarterbacked by S.B.F.
Theodore Schleifer • March 1, 2023
Inside S.B.F.’s “Woke Shit” Influence Scheme
FTX executives Nishad Singh, who on Tuesday pleaded guilty to campaign-finance charges, and Ryan Salame were simultaneously players and pawns in S.B.F.’s political influence machine in Washington.
The allegation in the indictment doesn’t concern the fact that S.B.F. and his allies coordinated their political contributions—instead, the S.D.N.Y. describes something far more brazen.
Theodore Schleifer • February 23, 2023
Decoding the S.B.F. Political Conspiracy
The prosecution’s new narrative correctly ignores the coordination of political contributions in S.B.F. world and focuses instead on a more brazen fraud.
A new federal investigation suggests that the political and campaign-finance elements of the S.B.F. case may be broader than originally known.
Theodore Schleifer • February 21, 2023
The Next S.B.F. Legal Riddle: What’s in Puerto Rico?
An elite unit of the Department of Justice has taken an interest in the political side of the FTX case, raising the possibility of more indictments to come.
Since last November, any exposure to Sam or his money has been like a scarlet letter, forcing nearly all of his political aides to lawyer up and play defense against federal investigations—and FTX itself.
Theodore Schleifer • February 14, 2023
S.B.F.’s Unsolved Dark-Money Mysteries
A Taldmudic reading of exclusively obtained FTX filings suggests the next steps in this unfolding drama: finding out what Gabe Bankman-Fried knew about Salame’s dark money machine, S.B.F.’s ties to David McCormick, and more.
Oracle chairman Larry Ellison has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Trump, and more recently, he has privately expressed that he’s ready to see the G.O.P. turn the page.
Theodore Schleifer • February 8, 2023
Silicon Valley G.O.P. Donor Spin-the-Bottle
For once, all the intrigue in the tech donor community is on the right—with conservative billionaires picking their dance partners for 2024, navigating the Trump question, and contemplating the “DeSantasy.”
Last week, Gabe Bankman-Fried—brother of S.B.F.— was threatened with a subpoena by FTX, Sam’s former company.
Theodore Schleifer • February 1, 2023
The Brothers Bankman-Fried
Gabe Bankman-Fried rode his brother’s reputation, and moolah, to political-donor stardom. Can he survive Sam’s fall?
Barbara Fried and Mind the Gap raised hundreds of millions of dollars for Democratic causes, turning Fried into a minor political celebrity.
Theodore Schleifer • January 25, 2023
S.B.F. Mama Drama
Barbara Fried was a beloved law professor whose midlife political awakening inspired Mind the Gap, a powerful network of 2,500 donors that helped the Democrats dominate the ’18 midterms. Now, she’s the latest victim of her son, Sam Bankman-Fried.
sbf substack
Theodore Schleifer • January 18, 2023
The Eternal Sunshine of S.B.F.
Is Bankman-Fried’s unusual P.R. strategy a battle for marginal news consumers and a from-the-gut attempt at rehab, or a form of attention-hungry psychobabble? Some observations from our time together. Plus, news and notes on the political-big money business.
Sam Bankman-Fried
Theodore Schleifer • January 10, 2023
The Only Living Boy in Palo Alto
Scenes from a surreal, often sad, otherworldly visit at home with Sam Bankman-Fried.
tiktok
Baratunde Thurston • January 8, 2023
TikTok on the Clock
What happens to the creator economy if the world’s most important new social platform is banned in the United States? We may be about to find out.
s.b.f.
Theodore Schleifer • January 6, 2023
A New Clue in S.B.F.’s Washington Scandal
Prosecutors are investigating donations made by Nishad Singh, the Democratic mega-donor and S.B.F roommate who could maybe bury his former ally—or join him on the firing line.
S.B.F.
Theodore Schleifer • January 4, 2023
S.B.F. Subpoena Paranoia
Democrats who once eagerly solicited money from S.B.F. are now preparing for the worst: door-knocks from prosecutors, document-retention orders, and nine months of anxiety courtesy of the Southern District of New York.
Jeff Bezos
Theodore Schleifer • December 28, 2022
Bezos’s NFL Dreams & S.B.F.’s First Campaign
Will the league let the man behind Thursday Night Football also own one of the teams in the game? Well, if you’re willing to pay 30x what you did for The Washington Post, anything is possible.
Sam Bankman-Fried
Eriq Gardner • December 26, 2022
Will S.B.F. Make a Deal?
Bar heavies and white shoe litigators weigh in with their most provocative legal predictions for 2023: on the future of Hollywood M&A, Murdoch’s defamation headache, Trump’s obstruction jeopardy, and more.
Sam Bankman-Fried
Theodore Schleifer • December 22, 2022
The S.B.F. Campaign Finance Whodunnit, Part 2
Further news and notes on the Sean McElwee-S.B.F. saga, and the campaign-finance scandal of the moment.