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    Michael Hiltzik: Crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried didn't lose a $16 billion fortune. His 'fortune' was never real

    by Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times Nov 15, 2022 6 minutes
    Sam Bankman-Fried testifies during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on Dec. 8, 2021, in Washington, D.C..

    The Greek tragedy unfolding in the financial press over the last week is the story of Sam Bankman-Fried, the would-be cryptocurrency tycoon and political kingmaker whose multibillion-dollar empire has sunk like the Titanic after its encounter with the iceberg.

    Bloomberg put it this way: "Bankman-Fried's Assets Plummet From $16 Billion to Zero in Days."

    The story under that headline reported that Bankman-Fried's entire fortune had been "wiped out" in "one of history's greatest-ever destructions of wealth."

    Yet, something doesn't compute here. It's that $16 billion in assets can't simply disappear in a matter of days — not if they were real in the first place.

    Bankman-Fried either had $16 billion in assets at the start of last week and still has a sizable share of it today, or zero now and close to zero then. Both things can't be true.

    Based on reports that Bankman-Fried and his cryptocurrency exchange firm, FTX, are now under investigation by federal prosecutors and securities regulators, I'm voting that $16 billion was mythical and that zero is

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