One wouldn’t think that looks mattered to a man like Sam Bankman-Fried.
A self-professed utilitarian, he was typically seen in a scrappy grey t-shirt hoisting a schoolboy backpack on his shoulders, floppy, unkempt hair framing a pasty white face.
It all added to his charm, a charm that saw some of the world’s biggest sports stars and venture capital funds fall at the feet of the FTX founder.
Yet, according to testimony given by Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend and former head of FTX sister company Alameda Research on Wednesday, Bankman-Fried’s shaggy mop was an integral ingredient to becoming a multi-billionaire.
Caroline Ellison, who pleaded guilty to committing fraud at the behest of Bankman-Fried, alleged that her former boss believed his hair was responsible for him netting big pay bonuses at Jane Street, the quantitative trading firm where he worked prior to founding FTX.
Perhaps he also thought his hair could have netted him the presidency- Ellison revealed that Bankman-Fried believed he stood a 5% chance of winning the highest US political office.
Unfortunately, Ellison didn’t go into further detail on Bankman-Fried’s hairscapades and what made his mop so irresistible to Jane Street executives.
She did claim that Bankman-Fried instructed them to ditch their luxury sports vehicles for Toyotas in order to appear more humble.
Her testimony amounts to a character assassination of a man who once painted himself as an effective altruist while living it up in Bajan mansions.
Ellison returns to the witness box today, where she is expected to continue laying down damning evidence of Bankman-Fried’s alleged fraudulent behaviour at the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange.