- Former FTX Chief Operating Officer Constance Wang criticized Netflix’s portrayal of the exchange’s collapse in its miniseries The Altruists.
- Wang rejected the trailer’s depiction of Caroline Ellison as aggressive and said most employees did not know about Ellison’s relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried until after FTX filed for bankruptcy.
- The series, starring Julia Garner and Anthony Boyle, is scheduled to premiere on November 19.
Constance Wang, the former chief operating officer of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, criticized Netflix ahead of the scheduled November 19 premiere of The Altruists, its miniseries about Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison. Wang said the streaming service had turned the exchange’s collapse, which ruined many people’s lives, into a romantic drama.
“Watching it made me physically nauseous,” Wang wrote in private messages about her reaction to the trailer.
Wang disputes portrayals of the FTX team
Wang said she held the chief operating officer role before the company was named FTX. She described the exchange as her life’s work and said she lost everything there. She also said she was the last person to leave the Bahamas after Bankman-Fried’s extradition.
According to Wang, media accounts often explain FTX’s collapse by focusing on employees spending their time together in the Bahamas. She said her experience at the company was different.
At its peak, FTX’s core company had fewer than 200 employees, excluding subsidiaries, Wang said. Because the team was small, many employees worked 16 to 18 hours a day for more than three years. She also said Bankman-Fried was constantly at his desk, regardless of the time of day.
Wang disputed the trailer’s portrayal of Ellison, the former head of Alameda Research, as aggressive. She said she never saw Ellison behave that way and described her as quiet, gentle and often lost in her own thoughts.
Most employees did not know about the romantic relationship between Ellison and Bankman-Fried until they read about it after FTX filed for bankruptcy, Wang said. She added that she never saw Bankman-Fried put an arm around anyone’s shoulders.
The Altruists
Netflix presented The Altruists as a miniseries about two ambitious young people whose relationship and decisions became central to the scandal surrounding FTX. Julia Garner plays Ellison, while Anthony Boyle portrays FTX founder Bankman-Fried.
“The FTX collapse shattered the lives of so many people, including ours, and Netflix decided to turn it into a love story,” Wang said.
FTX announced its fifth round of payouts in July 2026, with total compensation exceeding $10 billion.
Source: Incrypted
