Netflix is moving fast on its dramatization of the crypto scandal that shook Silicon Valley and Wall Street. The streamer has officially greenlit The Altruists, a limited series centered on the rise and implosion of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and his on-again-off-again partner and Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison.
Julia Garner, fresh off her Emmy-winning turns in Ozark and Inventing Anna, will take on the role of Ellison, while Anthony Boyle (Masters of the Air, Say Nothing) has been cast as Bankman-Fried. The project is created and executive produced by Graham Moore and Jacqueline Hoyt, with Garner also boarding as EP.
Produced by Higher Ground and New York Magazine/Vox Media Studios in association with Netflix, the series is being positioned as a high-stakes financial drama, tracing how Bankman-Fried and Ellison pitched themselves as mission-driven disruptors—only to face allegations of orchestrating an $8 billion fraud. The tone aims less for white-collar true crime and more for something closer to a psychological chess match fueled by ambition, ego, and blurred personal lines.
Development has been underway quietly, with Moore—who won the Oscar for The Imitation Game—reuniting with Hoyt, whose credits include The Underground Railroad and The Good Wife. No release window has been announced yet.