SBF

Chapter 36Politics

Has there ever been a more unflattering photo of a billionaire than the one New York Magazine chose for its mini‐profile of SBF in February 2021?

The publication wanted to highlight the role he played in electing Joe Biden as President of the United States. They depicted him lying down on one of his bean bags, pasty legs sticking out from his unfortunate khaki shorts. He had his New Balance sneakers off, a fleece blanket clumped on one side, and his arms tucked behind his head in such a way that he has about four chins, because—in fairness—no one's face looks good from that position.

Why had he agreed to the pose? How was there no one to stop him?

His style has always been bad, but it was as if he went out of his way to make it worse. Yet, from that unfortunately illustrated dispatch forward, he wasn't just one of the biggest spenders in the crypto biz, somehow he had become a power broker too.

I remember seeing that story and thinking something like: Now this? It seemed too much to be possible. How could one person become this big this fast?

Even then, though, we didn't know everything. After his fall, SBF would tell Tiffany Fong, an internet personality, during a phone call that she later shared (excerpted) online, that he'd given just as much to Republicans as Democrats. He'd just given to the Republicans in dark money. “The reason was not for regulatory reasons; it's because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to Republicans. They're all super‐liberal, ...