On Background from Against the Rules

Published Jan 31, 2023, 10:00 AM

Michael Lewis's next book is all about Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the crypto-currency exchange FTX, who now faces federal charges. As with all of his books, Lewis is talking with experts to get background context on the world his characters inhabit. For the first time, these interviews will be recorded, on the record.

In this special monthly series from Against the Rules, we'll hear Lewis in conversation with experts such as a tech wizard who traces secrets on the blockchain; a scholar of white-collar crime and punishment; a regulator who knows what crypto firms are – and aren’t – allowed to do with other people’s billions; and an insider who can follow the influence of crypto on campaign finance.

“On Background” from Michael Lewis and Against the Rules drops monthly, starting February 14th, 2023.

Pushkin. I want to say, hide all listeners of Against the Rules. I know you've been patient. It's Michael Lewis here. You've been waiting a long time for season four, and you're gonna wait a bit more though. I've been thinking about it a lot. But at the same time, I've been working on a new book about the crypto Exchange FTX and its founder Sam Bankman Freed, who I met now about a year and a half ago, and so I've been marinating in the story. As the story has happened, It's recently taken some pretty dramatic turns, and I can't give it all away. I'm not going to give very much of it away, but it involves lots of trips to the Bahamas and court dates and crypto trading and ankle bracelets. I feel a real obligation to this story, so I love it if you just hang tight while I finished writing it. However, there's one thing I always do when I sit down and tell a complicated story. I do a whole lot of interviews that are just on background stuff that's going to end up on the cutting room floor, just to educate myself around the boundaries of the subject. It's stuff that will just never make it into the book, and I know that going in, but it helps me understand the deeper context of what my characters are going through, and I'm at that phase right now. I'm going to let you in on these background interviews on the record once a month. You can listen in as I call up some esoteric expert. It might be a crypto sleuth who sniffs out secrets on the blockchain, or someone who studied white color crime and whether punishments fit offenses. I'd love, for example, to talk to regulators who can tell us what the rules actually are and aren't for crypto firms who trade in billions of dollars of other people's money. I'm interested in the way crypto is influenced American politics and taking advantage of campaign finance rules. I'm also interested in the Bahamas and learning why what you do in the Bahamas doesn't always stay in the Bahamas. We're calling the series on background, as in the reporter me, Michael Lewis talking with the people who will make the author also Michael Lewis sound like a smarter person. The first episode drops February fourteenth, Right here in this fee but in the meantime, if you have any questions for me, please do let me know. I can't talk too much about the details of the book I'm working on, but if you have questions about like the writing process, or what music or podcasts I'm listening to, or about books I'm reading, or about previous episodes, or really anything else, submitted by clicking the link in our show notes or visiting ATR podcast dot com. That's atr podcast dot com. I'll be back soon with the first episode of On Background from Against the Rules. Let's see what we can learn together.

Against the Rules with Michael Lewis

Journalist and bestselling author Michael Lewis explores the figures in American life who rely on th 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 95 clip(s)