“The Altruists,” Netflix’s upcoming limited series about the Sam Bankman-Fried-founded cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has added 10 cast members.
The upcoming series will star Eugene Young (“Veep,” “Squid Game”) as FTX co-founder Gary Wang, Madison Hu (“The Brothers Sun”) as FTX COO Constance Wang, Karan Soni (“Deadpool”) as FTX’s head of engineering Nishad Singh, comedian Matt Rife as CEO of FTX Digital Markets Ryan Salame, Alex Lawther (“Black Mirror,” “Alien: Earth”) as co-CEO of Alameda Research Sam Trabucco and Naomi Okada (“Q Train”) as FTX senior executive Claire Watanabe. All will be series regulars.
Additionally, Maddie Hasson (“Malignant”) will star as FTX head of global luxury partnerships Lauren Platt and Paul Reiser (“Mad About You”) and Robin Weigert (“Deadwood”) will star as Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, the father and mother of Sam Bankman-Fried. Platt, Reiser and Weigert will appear in recurring roles.
These actors will join previously announced cast members Julia Garner (“Ozark,” “Inventing Anna”) and Anthony Boyle (“Say Nothing,” “Masters of the Air”), who will star as Caroline Ellison and Sam Bankman-Fried, respectively. The eight-episode series comes from Graham Moore, known for his work on “The Imitation Game” and “The Outfit,” as well as Jacqueline Hoyt, who was behind “The Underground Railroad” and “Dietland.” The two will co-showrun and executive produce the series.
“The Altruists” tells the story of Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison. FTX founder Bankman-Fried emerged on the tech scene as the “poster boy” for cryptocurrency. Ellison, the CEO of the trading firm Alameda Research, quickly joined his inner circle. As more evidence of the crypto company’s fraud emerged, it was revealed that at least $4 billion was transferred from FTX to Alameda Research without any disclosure to insiders within the companies or the public. Bankman-Fried was ultimately found guilty on all counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion. As for Ellison, she was sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the crime.
“For nearly three years now, Sam and Caroline’s story has been my daily obsession,” Moore told Tudum. “I’m so grateful to my friends at Netflix and Higher Ground for loving this story not only as much as I do, but in the same way that I do. And we can’t wait to show all of you why.”
