The Sam Bankman-Fried Trial Was the Hottest Ticket in Town

Robert De Niro marched into Manhattan federal court Tuesday accompanied by an occasional camera click. But the swaths of people lined up outside the courthouse—who had arrived as early as 1:30 a.m.—weren’t there for the movie star. They were there for Sam Bankman-Fried.

The trial of the FTX founder—a former crypto wunderkind known for his slovenly outfits, disheveled hair, and love of video games—has been the main attraction in downtown Manhattan for weeks, with public figures from author Michael Lewis to actor Ben McKenzie to notorious “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli clamoring to watch the courtroom fireworks.

Inside one of the overflow courtrooms on Tuesday, a couple named Vlad and Jenny (they declined to give their last names), said they’d flown in from Palo Alto for the spectacle. Vlad works in tech, but said he didn’t invest in FTX and isn’t particularly interested in crypto.

Read more at The Daily Beast.