Anna Wintour's furious staff said Sam Bankman-Fried would 'never step foot in fashion again' after he snubbed her Met Gala invite

• Anna Wintour invited Sam Bankman-Fried to the Met Gala during a Zoom meeting on Valentine's Day 2022.

• Bankman-Fried played his favorite video game and responded "yup" to everything during the meeting.

• Wintour's team were furious when he ultimately snubbed the invite, per Michael Lewis' new book about FTX.

Anna Wintour's team were furious when FTX's co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried rejected a Meta Gala invite and they vowed that he'd "never step foot in fashion again" after the incident, according to an excerpt from Michael Lewis' new book on FTX "Going Infinite," published by The Washington Post on Monday.

Bankman-Fried had a Zoom meeting with Wintour on Valentine's Day in 2022 while he was staying at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, per the excerpt.

The crypto tycoon "didn't know who she was" but was vaguely aware that she was the editor of a magazine, Lewis recounted during an interview with CBS "60 Minutes."

Bankman-Fried, who was late for the meeting, was playing his favourite video game Storybook Brawl and responded "yup" to everything Wintour was saying including her personal invitation to the Met Gala without really paying attention. He even agreed to Wintour's suggestion that he finance the whole event.

Wintour ended the conversation "warmly," Lewis wrote saying that she had gotten what she came for. After the meeting Bankman-Fried thought: "'I would have to think hard if this is a thing I want to go to,'" per the excerpt.

"'I would certainly be out of place there. It's going to be a difficult needle to thread.'"

Although Bankman-Fried was unsure, FTX's marketing team spoke to Louis Vuitton about creating a red-carpet look of his t-shirt and cargo shorts uniform. Other FTX staff paid Tom Ford to design a more stylish outfit with $65,000 cuff links.

Bankman-Fried ultimately decided not to go, but it was FTX's former head of public relations, Natalie Tien, who had to deal with the fallout with Wintour's team.

Lewis wrote: "Natalie was prepared for Anna Wintour's people to be disappointed when she told them that Sam wouldn't be there. It was their outrage that surprised her. 'They called and shouted and said Sam will never set foot in fashion again!'"

Lewis told "60 Minutes" he was surprised Wintour even wanted Bankman-Fried at the Met Gala considering he is "the worst dressed person in America," and "the worst-dressed billionaire in the history of billionaires."

FTX Group and affiliated companies including trading firm Alameda Research filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. The company's collapse revealed that FTX had surreptitiously transferred customer funds to Alameda.

FTX's cofounder has since pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges including conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

His trial is set to begin on Tuesday, and is expected to continue through November.

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