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Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Business
Michael Hiltzik

Michael Hiltzik: How Sam Bankman-Fried exploited the 'effective altruism' fad to get rich and con the world

Bankman Sam Bankman-Fried Will MacAskill FTX Daniel Drew Peter Singer Adam Fisher Cryptocurrency Kelsey Piper Crypto

The most uplifting aspect of the Sam Bankman-Fried story was always that he guided his way to a putative cryptocurrency fortune of more than $16 billion by following a philosophy of charitable giving known as "effective altruism."

Interviewers were dazzled by Bankman-Fried's account of the epiphany he experienced over a lunch with Will MacAskill, around the time he was graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A British philosopher, MacAskill advocated a version of "effective altruism" asserting that, if life's purpose was to do good, then the moral imperative is to make as much money as one can, and then give it away. MacAskill compressed this viewpoint into the edict, "earn to give."

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