According to Variety, Anthony Boyle (Tetris, Manhunt) and Julia Garner (Ozark, The Fantastic Four: First Steps) have been cast in Netflix’s forthcoming drama series The Altruists, portraying Bankman-Fried and Ellison. The series will be executive produced by Graham Moore and Jacqueline Hoyt, who will also serve as the showrunner. The Altruists will explore how Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, and Ellison, the former head of FTX’s sister company Alameda Research, amassed wealth by defrauding investors of FTX. Netflix has greenlit eight episodes for this series, with James Ponsoldt (Shrinking, Running Point) set to direct the first episode.
Netflix characterizes the series as centering on “two hyper-intelligent, ambitious young idealists who set out to transform the global financial system in an instant — and then manipulated each other into stealing $8 billion.” This description, while somewhat grandiose, seems fitting. The narrative is likely to address how both Bankman-Fried and Ellison ended up serving prison sentences of 25 years and two years, respectively. If The Altruists aspires to be regarded as a serious narrative that avoids romanticizing its protagonists’ actions, it should consider discussing Bankman-Fried’s ongoing efforts to seek a pardon from Donald Trump.
(Disclosure: The Altruists is a co-production between Higher Ground Productions and New York Magazine/Vox Media Studios.)
Correction, May 29th: An earlier version of this article mistakenly indicated that Bankman-Fried had pleaded guilty to the charges against him. In reality, he pleaded not guilty before being sentenced to 25 years.
