Ozark star Julia Garner to play Caroline Ellison in Obama Netflix miniseries on FTX collapse

Netflix has green-lit an eight-episode limited series titled The Altruists, a dramatization of the eight-billion-dollar collapse of crypto exchange FTX and the downfall of its co-founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.

The show, produced under Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground banner, will star Julia Garner (3x Emmy winner) as former Alameda Research chief executive Caroline Ellison and Anthony Boyle as Bankman-Fried.

Boyle & Garner (Source: Wikipedia)

The narrative will chart FTX’s meteoric rise to a peak valuation of thirty-two billion dollars in January 2022, the exposure of the customer shortfall, and Bankman-Fried’s eventual conviction in March 2024.

It will also explore the brief romance and professional partnership between Bankman-Fried and Ellison, whose shared belief in effective altruism framed their actions as ostensibly mission-driven even as fraud mounted.

There is obvious interest in how SBF will be portrayed in the series. Will he be shown to be a flawed altruist (as the title may suggest) or as a criminal mastermind, hellbent on defrauding investors and retail crypto investors alike?

Higher Ground might also have to navigate the optics of its founders’ political ties, especially in light of Bankman-Fried’s bipartisan campaign donations.

What we know so far

Casting

• Anthony Boyle (Masters of the Air) portrays Sam Bankman-Fried, recently sentenced to twenty-five years in US federal prison.
• Julia Garner (Ozark, Inventing Anna) takes on Caroline Ellison, who cooperated with prosecutors and received a two-year sentence.

Creative team

Oscar-winning screenwriter Graham Moore (The Imitation Game) and veteran showrunner Jacqueline Hoyt (The Good Wife) will steer the writers’ room. The pilot is set to be directed by James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now), whose reputation for character-driven storytelling fits the project’s ambition to balance boardroom tension with personal drama.

Production timeline

• Filming window: July – October 2025 in Vancouver, Canada.
• Post-production and launch: A 2026 premiere is considered likely, aligning with Netflix’s existing true-crime slate.

Key numbers

• 8 billion USD in misused customer funds (court filings).
• 32 billion USD peak valuation at FTX’s Series C round.
• 25 years – Bankman-Fried’s sentence (28 March 2024).
• 2 years – Ellison’s sentence (24 September 2024).
• 8 episodes commissioned by Netflix.

With casting confirmed and pre-production underway, location scouts are finalising Vancouver stand-ins for FTX’s former Nassau headquarters and crypto conference venues. The writers’ room convenes in June, and an initial outline is said to emphasize the tension between philanthropic intent and unchecked hubris.

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