Bankman-Fried Mulled Over Paying Trump Billions To Keep Him From Running For President, Book Author Claims

Sam Bankman-Fried once thought of paying Donald Trump billions to keep him from running for president, author Michael Lewis has revealed in a recent interview.

Lewis, an ex-Wall Street bond slinger, is the author behind the book "Going Infinite," which details the fall of the crypto mogul who is now accused of multiple criminal charges including fraud and is scheduled to go on trial Tuesday.

Bankman-Fried became a trending topic on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Monday night not because of his upcoming court appearance but because of a shocking revelation made by Lewis, who painted the former FTX CEO as someone willing to do things to ensure his interests, ambitions or both would be protected.

In an interview with "60 Minutes," Lewis shared interesting details about Bankman-Fried, particularly when he met with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel and had dinner with him for six hours to offer assistance in funding Republican candidates at odds with Trump.

"What is the subtext of this dinner, is Sam is gonna write tens of millions of dollars of checks to a super PAC that Mitch McConnell is then gonna use to get elected people who are not hostile to democracy," Lewis shared, adding that McConnel and "his people had done work to distinguish between actual deep Trumpers and people who were just seeming to, to approve of Donald Trump, but were actually willing to govern."

Lewis also claimed that Bankman-Fried toyed with the possibility of paying Trump so he wouldn't run for president and eventually got a number, which was reportedly $5 billion.

"Sam's thinking, 'We could pay Donald Trump not to run for president. Like, how much would it take?'" the author said.

"So he did get an answer. He was floated — there was a number that was kicking around. And the number that was kicking around when I was talking to Sam about this was $5 billion. Sam was not sure that number came directly from Trump," he added.

Lewis also shared that although Bankman-Fried found out the amount, he was hesitant if $5 billion would be enough and if it was legal to give the money.

"He got one answer, yes. The question Sam had was not just, 'Is $5 billion enough to pay Trump not to run,' but 'Was it legal?'" the author said.

Bankman-Fried, once regarded as the "golden boy of crypto" and used to be worth billions, is now in detention awaiting his trial. He is about to undergo a legal proceeding involving one of the biggest fraud cases in the history of the U.S.