Everyone got duped by Sam Bankman-Fried's big gamble

Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years for stealing billions of dollars from customers of his cryptocurrency exchange FTX. It's a spectacular downfall for Silicon Valley's dishevelled wunderkind, who rubbed elbows with celebrities like Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady.

On 7 November 2022, as his empire began its dizzying, irrevocable collapse, Bankman-Fried did what he always did: he weighed the odds.

Earlier that day, a rival executive had expressed concerns on social media about the finances of Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange, spooking customers into a multi-billion dollar bank run.

In an online chat, Bankman-Fried consulted two of his top deputies. "To be clear you think the tweet is net bad":[]}