Sam Bankman-Fried said he had to teach himself human facial expressions, like smiling
Sam Bankman-Fried had to teach himself how to make facial expressions, Michael Lewis writes in his new book.
The FTX cofounder questioned the whole point of making facial expressions in the first place, Lewis said.
Lewis' book on FTX was released on Tuesday, the same day Bankman-Fried's criminal trial began.
Sam Bankman-Fried said he struggled to teach himself how to make facial expressions, according to Michael Lewis' new book on the downfall of FTX and Bankman-Fried, "Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon."
Lewis' book was released on Tuesday, the same day Bankman-Fried's criminal trial began in New York, and includes plenty of wild details about the former crypto billionaire. Bankman-Fried is facing charges that he manipulated funds to defraud depositors and investors of FTX, his collapsed crypto exchange. Between the criminal trial and the newly released book, details of Bankman-Fried's life and personality have come under scrutiny.
"There were some things I had to teach myself to do," Bankman-Fried told Lewis in the book. "One is facial expressions. Like making sure I smile when I'm supposed to smile. Smiling was the biggest thing that I most weirdly couldn't do."
Lewis writes that Bankman-Fried questioned the entire premise behind making facial expressions entirely: "What's the whole point of making facial expressions in the first place? If you're going to say something to me, just say it," he told the author. "Why do I have to grin while you do it?"
Bankman-Fried apparently found comfort at math camp, where "people didn't seem to care about his lack of facial expressions," and with childhood friend Matt Nass, who "didn't need Sam to generate facial expressions or ask him questions about himself."
Later in life, however, his difficulty in conveying emotions created a barrier between Bankman-Fried and others he would interact with, Lewis writes. His lack of expression would make him come across as unapproachable, negative, intimidating, and untrustworthy. Bankman-Fried would practice showing emotion, with difficulty.
"It was physically painful," Bankman-Fried is quoted saying in the book. "It felt unnatural. And I wasn't good at it. It didn't look right."
His lack of empathy also came up in his relationship with his former romantic partner Caroline Ellison, who was also the CEO of Alameda Research, a trading firm launched by Bankman-Fried. He once sent Ellison a list of pros and cons of being in a physical relationship with him.
"In a lot of ways I don't really have a soul," Bankman-Fried wrote in the memo, according to Lewis. "There's a pretty decent argument that my empathy is fake, my feelings are fake, my facial reactions are fake. I don't feel happiness."
Bankman-Fried's fashion sense has also been criticized. Before he was arrested in the Bahamas, he was apparently arguing with his mom over text: she wanted him to wear long pants to get arrested, while he wanted to stick to his cargo shorts.
During the first day of his trial on Tuesday, Bankman-Fried was seen sporting a new look, with his unkempt mop trimmed after a haircut.
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