The collapse of FTX, which vaporized $8 billion in customer funds and sent its founder to prison for 25 years, is getting the prestige TV treatment. Netflix’s The Altruists premieres November 19, 2026, an eight-episode limited series that traces the rise and implosion of the crypto exchange through the relationship between Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison.
Julia Garner, best known for her Emmy-winning turn in Ozark, plays Ellison, the former co-CEO of Alameda Research. Anthony Boyle takes on the role of Bankman-Fried.
What the series covers
The show is created by Graham Moore, who won an Academy Award for writing The Imitation Game. He co-showruns alongside Jacqueline Hoyt, with James Ponsoldt directing the first episode. Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions is executive producing alongside Vox Media Studios.
The narrative is built around the intertwined personal and professional lives of Bankman-Fried and Ellison, two figures whose romantic relationship became inseparable from their business empire. The show draws inspiration from reporting in New York Magazine. Production began in Vancouver in mid-2025 and wrapped in November of that year. The supporting cast portrays other key figures from the FTX and Alameda orbit, including Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, both of whom cooperated with prosecutors in the real-world case.
The real-world legal fallout
FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022 after a liquidity crisis revealed the massive shortfall in customer funds. Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy. A federal judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison and ordered him to forfeit $11 billion.
Ellison pleaded guilty and became the prosecution’s star witness, delivering testimony that proved devastating to Bankman-Fried’s defense. Her cooperation earned her a two-year prison sentence, a fraction of what her former partner received.
Wang and Singh also cooperated with authorities. The FTX bankruptcy estate, under the leadership of restructuring specialist John Ray III, has been working to recover and distribute funds to creditors.