♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, sam bankman-fried, once hailed as the king of crypto charged. the founder and former ceo of ftx accused of swindling billions. >> this is one of the biggest financial frauds in american history. >> the company once valued at $32 billion promoted by high-profile celebrities. >> you just need ftx. >> what he told our george stephanopoulos. >> are you worried about going to jail? plus changing the game. >> there's no one that looks like us that's doing it like this. >> this duo reshaping the culture of golf with their lifestyle brand. >> we are literally spreading the gospel of golf. >> the partnership with nba

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♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. we begin tonight with the stunning fall of a former ceo of crip cocurrency exchange giant ftx. sam bankman-fried behind bars in the bahamas tonight. federal prosecutors accusing him of a massive fraud scheme, cheating investors and customers out of billions. here's abc's chief business correspondent rebecca jarvis. >> i think it's fair to say by anyone's life, this is one of the biggest financial frauds in american history. >> reporter: attorneys from the southern district of new york today announcing charges against sam bankman-fried, founder of cryptocurrency exchange ftx. >> he used that money for his personal benefit, including to make personal investments and to cover expenses and debts of his hedge behind alameda research. >> reporter: bankman-fried, the crypto boy wonder, was arrested

last night in the bahamas, just hours after saying this in an interview with crypto podcast "unusual whales." >> are you worried you might be detained if you stepped foot inn the u.s.? >> i don't believe i would be, but i haven't done a, like, deep dive into that. at some point, that's something i have to think harder about. >> reporter: bankman-fried was set to answer questions before congress earlier today via zoom. instead, tonight seen leaving his extradition hearing in nassau. his lawyer telling abc news, "mr. bankman-fried is reviewing the charges with his legal team and considering all of his legal options." >> you're talking about wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, campaign finance violations. they're really saying that all of the money that he was able to get for this business was used

in different ways for different kinds of fraud. >> reporter: while the new ftx ceo, john ray, brought in to oversee bankruptcy proceedings, told congress there were a number of red flags. >> we had one person really controlling this. no independent board. that's highly unusual when a size company this is. >> reporter: the southern district in congress aren't the only ones coming after ftx and bankman-fried. the securities and exchange commission charged him with defrauding investors, the chairman writing in a statement that bankman-fried built a house of cards on a foundation of deception. >> he's facing possibility of over 100 years behind bars. so this is really serious stuff. the more money you're accused of fraudulently obtaining, taking, the higher the potential sentence. >> reporter: it's the latest low point in ftx and bankman-fried's catastrophic fall from both

acclaim and billionaire status. >> like i was saying, it's ftx, the safe and easy way to get into crypto. >> nah, i don't think so. and i'm never wrong about this stuff. never. >> reporter: earlier this year, ftx was running star-studded commercials during the super bowl. >> with ftx, i have everything i need to buy, sell, and trade crypto safely. >> not that, this is big. >> reporter: snagging celebrity endorsements -- >> it's the best way to get in the game. >> reporter: buying naming rights to the miami heat's 20,000-seat arena. reaching a valuation of $32 billion by making investing in cryptocurrencies seem as approachable as buying a cup of coffee. at the top, 30-year-old sam bankman-fried. fronting magazine covers, headlining conferences, even testifying before the u.s. congress in the name of crypto transparency. >> one of the really innovative properties of cryptocurrency

markets are a 24/7 risk monitoring engines -- >> sam bankman-fried was a new breed of crypto entrepreneur. he drove a toyota corolla. he slept on a bean bag in the office. and he kind of had his wild and crazy hair. i think all those things together just made him a type of character that appealed to kind of a certain demographic. >> reporter: in 2017, bankman-fried created alameda research, a crypto trading firm reportedly using $1 million in savings and loans from friends and family. two years later, he created crypto exchange ftx. but in early november, it all came crashing down. financial site coin desk published a report saying a huge amount of almead de's balance sheet was made up of billions of dollars' worth of cryptocurrency created by ftx. making both companies incredibly unsta unstable. ftx customers raced to withdraw

billions of dollars from the platform. billions that, it turned out, ftx didn't have. forcing the platform to temporarily halt withdrawals. >> it just didn't dawn on me that it was possible. how did it happen so quickly? >> reporter: portland native jake thacker was shocked when he suddenly couldn't access his funds on the ftx site. >> but i was in panic mode. i didn't know who to talk to about it either, because no one really understood. so i was stuck with my own thoughts and people that i didn't know online and their comments. so it was kind of a spiral for about 48 hours there. just sheer panic. >> the s.e.c. alleges in the end $8 billion of money was sent from ftx customer accounts to this account controlled by alameda. >> reporter: november 11th, ftx filed for bankruptcy and bankman-fried stepped down as ceo, tweeting in part, "i'm really sorry that things ended

up as they did, and as i said, i'm going to do everything i can to make it more right." our george stephanopoulos sat down with bankman-fried in the bahamas for his first network interview shortly after he resigned as ceo. >> so you do know and you did know that ftx deposits were being funneled to alameda? >> so i was vaguely aware that that was how some wires were being sent in the first place. >> didn't that set off alarm bells in your head? >> so there are a lot of people who are involved in that process, and look, i really deeply wish that i had taken, like, a lot more responsibility for understanding what the details were of what was going on there. i knew that legal was involved. i knew that other groups at the company were involved. that there were agreements drafted up -- >> but you're ultimately responsible. >> ultimately, absolutely. i should have been on top of this and i feel really, really bad and regretful that i wasn't

and a lot of people got hurt. and that's on me. >> reporter: like jake, who stands to lose over $120,000 worth of crypto that he has wrapped up in ftx. >> i was planning to do things for the holidays with my family. i had planned to maybe take some vacation next year. i had to rethink all my budgets around food and transportation and all that stuff. i'm lucky in that sense, because i do have a good job and other people were not in such a great spot. invested life-savings. and they may never see that back. >> reporter: now he hopes the punishment fits the alleged crime. >> i hope that justice is served. do i necessarily think by throwing the book at this one individual, it's going to fix all of the problems that may precede this or exist currently? no. i don't know if that's the right answer either. >> to anyone who is watching this or hears about this prosecution, if you believe that you have been a victim of these schemes, please let us know. and to anyone who participated

in wrongdoing, i would strongly encourage you to come see us before we come see you. >> reporter: as for bankman-fried, his future is uncertain. today his application for bail was denied. he's currently being held in the bahamas, fighting extradition back to the united states. >> are you worried about going to jail? >> there are a lot of things that are worrying me right now. and -- you know, as best as possible, i'm trying to focus on what i can do going forward to be helpful. and, you know, let whatever, you know, regulatory and legal processes are happening play out as they will. >> our thanks to rebecca. up next, changing the game. my conversation with the two men profiled in the new docuseries "grails: when sneakers change the game." with dawn platinum ez-squeeze.

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detect this: i stay undetectable with fewer medicines. ask your doctor about switching to dovato. olajuwon and earl cooper are changing the look and culture of golf with east side golf. the former college teammates have created one of the most popular shoe brands in the world, known in sneaker culture as grails. i spoke to them earlier. thank you so much for making time for us. you two met at morehouse college? >> our first year, met each other in 2008, beginning of the school year. you know, sizing somebody up, seeing who's going to be on the golf team. from there we built the relationship over time. even won a national championship together. >> if i needed a ringer to play with, who's better of the two?

>> that's him. >> is that right? >> yeah, i'm going to help you out with that golf swing. if you need that ringer, you need somebody to execute the shots, that's him. >> nice. tell me about this company, east side. where did the idea originate and all that you sell? >> yeah, so of course, went to morehouse. i turned pro in golf after college. did that for a couple of years. won a couple of mini tour events, so i have professional wins. it got to a point i couldn't afford it anymore. i knew it would be hard to find sponsors. it was more of, let me just make a logo. the logo that you see is me. jeans, sweatshirt, me playing golf the way that i see it. showed him the logo. he's like, you need to put that on a t-shirt. >> we're all golfers. i started playing as an adult. f black man showi on the course where i'm the only brother there. you two started as boys. what was that like being, i'd imagine, the only brown boys on the course at any given time? >> i grew up in atlanta playing golf. honestly, it was majority black.

you don't usually see that at country clubs. but it helped me grow as a man. it helped me get that confidence, so then when i did go to the country club, i felt like i knew what i was doing. these guys are presidents of companies just like these guys at country clubs. i. >> for me the opposite, growing up in wilmington, delaware, there wasn't diversity at all. when i got to atlanta, wow, there's tons of black people on the golf course. >> there's a docuseries coming out on hulu calls "grailed." >> yes, sir. >> did your journey, about your work. >> there's no one that looks like us that's doing it like this. >> oh, they're bringing cool to a sport. >> they have tapped in from a black standpoint in showing people something different. >> i was struck by the early marketing of it. it was just word of mouth. now you have big names wearing your shoes. >> patrick mahomes, jayson tatum, chris paul. >> yeah, yeah.

dj khaled. cc, victor cruise, derek jeter. all those guys love the brand. >> this is flawless, this is incredible, this is something if i ain't know you guys, i'd be trying to get. >> right. >> you know, as a sneaker collector, i'd be all over, like yo, you got the golf joint, y'all the guy with the gold chain, i'd be looking for that joint. >> yeah. >> they love what we stand for, you know. us being honest and us calling out things that are not right in the golf world specifically. has gotten us very far. >> we've grown our company without, you know, an actual golf corporation, but more with how do we attach golf to every single thing else other than golf itself? that's the only way to grow the game. >> i'd imagine you guys heard "no" a number of times. why didn't you stop at no number 27? >> honestly, i started my own. because i was tired of being told no. why not thentpreneur route and sponsor myself?

to sponsor me a thousand noes. why not me to it? that birthed east side. it's literally me on the sweatshirt. it's dope. >> tell me about this meeting you had at nike company with one of their ambassadors. i think people would be familiar with the jordan brand. >> uh-huh. >> what was that like? >> no, i mean, it was a dream come true. >> we pitched it to m.j., he listened, whole time never stopped us, never asked any questions. after a 30-minute conversation he was just like, yo, you two have two amazing stories. >> the jordan brand, we tell the best stories. he turned to everybody. have we signed them yet? >> any time you get to walk into the building, you know, you hear about the campus at nike. just the history, you know, on the walls and the shoes. it's opportunity that many people don't get. so you've just got to seize that moment. >> they're not just sneakers.

these sneakers tell stories. jordan says, let's collab. that means you're chosen. >> it's been great working with the jordan brand. the whole team. i don't want to leave anybody's name out but it's been unbelievable. >> give me the elevator pitch. what is the story? >> the story is, it's called ray clay collection. me being from atlanta, my mom at one time had three jobs. and i had no way to the golf course. by the time i get to theus stop, red clay mud all over my shoes. getting on the bag, it's on my bag, my shoes. it shows grit, determination, literally i'm here to get it out of the mud. this is something old you are, if you want something bad enough, you can go get i■t. make a plan, stick to it, be motivated, be dedicated to it, don't stray from it. >> what's next for your guys? >> the sky is the limit. we really want to build a brand, not just a company.

there's opportunities that we see, you know, in really making an impact inside of the game. how do we get more people and build a bridge and welcome new people into the game? when we welcome into the game, hopefully, ultimately, we want to change the mindsets of pga professionals across the globe. because they're gatekeepers at these facilities. so that's the only way people are going to feel welcome when they arrive. we can do all of this work, everyone can get excited, everyone can wear the clothes. if you go to the golf course, somebody's looking at you, and you don't feel comfortable? in miami, a ranger came up to us and made us feel very uncomfortable. that's the problem with the game. it's not the game, it's oftentimes those interactions that kind of ruin the game. so we want to hopefully, like, shift the mind, shift the paradigm, and golf forever. >> the struggle is real, so is the success. >> yes. >> absolutely. >> yes. >> congratulations to you both. >> thank you. >> continued grace. i hope we get to tee it up at

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♪ finally tonight, at 27, jordan e. cooper is broadway's youngest american playwright. now he's trying to save the new show in which he stars as peaches from closing on sunday. >> hey, y'all, this is peaches from ain't no mo speaking. i keep hearing they trying to shut ain't no mo down. i just can't let that happen because i just got this job, i can't go back to mcdonald's. i just don't have a mcdouble spirit. >> cooper started #saveain'tnomo to keep the curtains open. >> this will be the carrier of our entire story as a people in

this country. >> the play takes a satirical look at black americans forced to leave america for africa. >> what did he say? >> girl, he just called you a single parent. >> he has major star power backing his efforts including the lead producer, oscar nominee lee daniels. stars like celebrity couple jada pinkett smith and will smith have bought out a performance of the show. and that's "nightline" for this evening. thanks for the company, america. good night.