Last week, one billionaire told Elon Musk to hold his beer. Sam Bankman-Fried, the young head of the Larry David- and Tom Brady-promoted cryptocurrency exchange FTX, took at least some of the press away from Twitter’s new, chaotic king. What did he do? Help tank his company overnight, losing billions in investors’ money, which was suddenly nowhere to be found. Details are still rolling in, many of them so outlandish and strange that the inevitable Hulu limited series all but writes itself. Late last week, Gawker reported that not only did some of the twenty-something higher-ups share the same home in the Bahamas, they also shared the same therapist. Now he’s talking to the press.
In new interviews with Vice and The New York Times, Dr. George K. Lerner opened up about his unusual role in the company that’s since gone under. He told Vice that was less an psychoanalyst and more of an “in-residence coach,” talking to 100 employees, including 20 to 40 on a “semi-regular basis.” These conversations were, he said, “focused on employee happiness and retention and organizational structure.” In a sense, it’s not that unusual; some have compared it to the therapist character on Billions (which Lerner says he hasn’t seen).
Bankman-Fried — who’s been mostly chilling since his company imploded, prompting multiple investigations — was simply one of his patients, and Dr. Lerner suggested he didn’t know him that well. But he thinks he knows him enough to think he’s no criminal mastermind who would fleece millions out of billions.
“I just can’t see him doing that, honestly,” Dr. Lerner told NYT. “I mean, I guess maybe I would have to sit down with him and understand why. But I have difficulties making that jump.”
Dr. Lerner shot down or minimized some of the stranger claims about the twentysomething FTX highers-up, some of whom have said they were in “polycules” with each other. Still, it was no den of vice, Lerner claimed.
“It’s a pretty tame place,” he said. “The higher-ups, they mostly played chess and board games. There was no partying. They were undersexed, if anything.” Mostly they just worked. In his chat with Vice, he even said he tried to help them find partners in a place without much nightlife.
Dr. Lerner also shot down the idea that they were powering through work high on Adderall. He prescribed them medication, but mostly for A.D.H.D. He also claims he gave Bankman-Fried, who has nervous habits, the fidget spinner that became his trademark (along with his shorts).
They also weren’t burning through money. Dr. Lerner described Bankman-Fried as frugal. “You’ve seen how he dresses,” he told NYT. “They really didn’t spend much money.”
So where does the truth lie? Were they a band of drugged-up hedonists working one of the priciest scams in history? Were they inexperienced screw-ups in way over their head? Only time will tell, but even Dr. Lerner thought he was part of a strong group of folks.
“You know, those people really felt like it was a family,” he said to NYT. “I think that’s why it’s so devastating for all of us for this to be over.”