The FTX scandal is set to get a limited series from a production company founded by former United States President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. Netflix confirmed which stars will lead a forthcoming 8-episode limited series, “The Altruists,” about the FTX scandal. Julia Garner, from “Inventing Anna” and “Ozark,” will star as Caroline Ellison, while “House of Guinness” star Anthony Boyle will play Sam Bankman-Fried, the streaming giant wrote on X Thursday. The fall of FTX received immense media coverage as one of the largest financial frauds in recent history. But as Netflix described the show, “Two hyper-smart young idealists try to remake the global financial system in the blink of an eye…only to seduce each other into stealing $8 billion.”
Sam Bankman-Fried founded both cryptocurrency exchange FTX and investment firm Alameda Research, and served as the CEO of FTX at the time of its collapse. Last year, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison related to defrauding customers and investors of FTX out of around $8 billion in assets. Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research, received two years in a medium-security prison for her part in FTX’s collapse. Bankman-Fried and Ellison were in a relationship.
The Netflix series will be co-showrun and executively produced by Graham Moore and Jacqueline Hoyt, who respectively worked on “The Imitation Game” and “The Underground Railroad.” Higher Ground, a production company the Obamas founded in 2018, will oversee the show’s development. “For nearly three years now, Sam and Caroline’s story has been my daily obsession,” Moore told the official Netflix site Tudum. “I’m so grateful to my friends at Netflix and Higher Ground for loving this story not only as much as I do, but in the same way that I do. And we can’t wait to show all of you why.”
