I first got to know author Michael Lewis, then of “Liar’s Poker” fame, when in the mid-1990s I took him around Silicon Valley in an old beat-up convertible. I told stories and showed him where the first transistor and microprocessor were invented, plus Xerox Parc and its beanbag chairs, Hewlett Packard and Intel. As we drove around, I shared my history with entrepreneur Jim Clark, his time at Silicon Graphics and early days with Netscape, and of the venture capitalist Glenn Mueller, who committed suicide after being denied access to invest.
I then watched in awe as a seed of an idea bloomed. Mr. Lewis practically moved in with Mr. Clark while writing his terrific book “The New New Thing.” As his time with Oakland A’s executive Billy Beane of “Moneyball” and Michael Oher of “The Blind Side” proved, he has a bloodhound’s nose for putting himself in the epicenter of gripping drama. When I first heard that my friend was embedded with crypto wunderkind Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX, I thought, “Of course he is.” The result is “Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon,” out Oct. 3.
I recently had lunch with Mr. Lewis in Larkspur, Calif., to learn more. “Before Covid,” he explains, “I decided my next book would be extremely character-based.” In October 2021, after a friend asked him to check out SBF, “Sam tumbles out of an Uber and I took him for a hike,” Mr. Lewis recalls. “I think it was the first hike he’s ever been on even though he wears a crumpled T-shirt and shorts every day.” SBF, then worth maybe $20 billion and, it turns out, a fan of “Moneyball,” unloaded his story. “He was gasping the whole time and talking a mile a minute.” Mr. Lewis realized, “I had my character.”
After Mr. Lewis arrived in the Bahamas in early February 2022, SBF apologetically announced that plans had changed. Then the entourage got on a jet to the Super Bowl in Los Angeles. This was the Crypto Ad Bowl—Mr. Lewis says FTX paid Larry David $10 million—and though no one quite knew it yet, crypto prices would soon implode.
It was brunch with Shaq and then, Mr. Lewis recalls with amazement, an “exclusive party with Hillary, Leonardo, Chris Rock, four Kardashians, Katy Perry, Jeff Bezos, the owners of the Rams and Cowboys.” SBF was dressed in his crumpled T-shirt and shorts. “By the end of the evening, all anyone wanted to talk to was Sam”—a benefit of throwing money around.
All in, Mr. Lewis spent more than 70 days in the Bahamas on a dozen different trips. That’s commitment. Plus journeys with SBF to Washington to wave cash at political celebrities.