Welcome back, Teddy Schleifer here.

A few weeks ago, I wrote you with our first ever power-ranking of Silicon Valley mega-donors—here's the list if you missed it. Today, I'm taking you deeper into the moves and aspirations of number five on that list: Sam Bankman-Fried.

Who should I write about next? My inbox is always open for your ideas. And if you have a friend or colleague who you think would enjoy being added to this email list, they can enter their address right here and they'll get next week's edition.

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Two quick notes…

• Did you get a “token of thanks” in the mail the other week from Reid Hoffman? Many progressive operatives did. The Democratic mega-donor is nothing if not earnest, and he sent these double-sided coins to strategists around the country who worked on the 2020 election, “offered in ongoing appreciation of your dedication to save the country.” On one side of the medal-like coin are the words E PLURIBUS UBUNTU and images of an eagle, dove and an owl. The package also came with an accompanying note explaining the symbolism, including a stanza from an Amanda Gorman poem. If you feel left out, and care to see it, reply to me.

• Elon Musk disclosed yesterday that he donated $6 billion to charity in November, which at least complicates his earlier claim that he was set to owe the largest I.R.S. payment in American history after exercising options and selling stock in Tesla worth tens of billions of dollars. Of course, this was entirely predictable: Any estate planner worth their salt would have advised a mega-gift to offset Elon’s approximately $11 billion tax bill, especially for someone as anti-tax as Elon sounds these days. Plus, Elon is indeed ramping up his charitable work. What did Elon give to, exactly? No, not the United Nations—almost certainly an intermediary, such as his foundation or one of his donor-advised funds. This week’s news is a reminder that these perennial rankings of big philanthropists increasingly have huge holes as donors increasingly operate out of the limelight.

The Notorious S.B.F.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the 29-year-old crypto zillionaire, epitomizes a new generation of mega-donors who blend big-money politics, applied math, and the reading list of a senior-year philosophy seminar. So naturally, he’s the hottest ticket in the most rarefied realms of philanthropy.

Every so often in political and philanthropic consulting, there comes along a client whom everyone wants—needs—to find a connection to in order to pitch and, perhaps, land a hefty payday. Right now, that’s Sam Bankman-Fried, the provocative, whip-smart, and omnipresent 29-year-old C.E.O. of the crypto exchange FTX who has, in the words of Cory Booker last week, “a much more glorious afro than I once had.” Bankman-Fried, or S.B.F., as he is now universally known in this world, has been an in-demand character for months, but the chase to woo him has grown more feverish of late as he has expanded the tentacles of his political machine in new and fascinating ways. I know several Democratic advisers who are trying their damndest to get in front of him right now.

Two years ago, no one had heard of the founder of FTX, then a pipsqueak competitor in a market dominated by Coinbase. I first discovered S.B.F. on a campaign filing in the fall of 2020, when he and an LLC he founded gave $10 million to Future Forward, a long operating-in-stealth super PAC. I like to think I cover the donor class as fervently as anyone, but I had no earthly idea who this guy was. (Google Trends data tells me, comfortingly, that few other people did then, either.) 

Sam and I spoke off-the-record that fall, and I published an on-the-record interview with him a few months later. Of course, that was before his net worth reached $23 billion and counting.. or just want to understand his business...

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