The Altruists trailer teases the romance that spiraled into an $8 billion scandal

Netflix released the trailer of its upcoming series, The Altruists, on October 8, 2026. Created by Graham Moore, famous for The Imitation Game and The Outfit, the series stars Julia Garner as Caroline Ellison and Anthony Boyle as Sam Bankman-Fried.

The two-minute and fifteen-second trailer revolves around Sam and Caroline's relationship, the rise of FTX, and how their big plans slowly start to break down. Two young, smart, and ambitious idealists dream of changing the financial world with their new company. But it soon takes a turn as they get deeper into crypto. In the end, their lies and secrets lead to an $8 billion scandal.

The story of The Altruists is based on the real-life FTX scandal, which made headlines in 2024 after Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, according to Tudum, called it potentially:

"Greatest financial fraud ever perpetrated in this country"

More on the story below.

What does The Altruists trailer reveal?

The Altruists trailer starts with Sam Bankman-Fried introducing himself to Caroline Ellison and giving her a brain teaser, saying:

"You'll bet a percentage of your chips."

After learning that the game is all about analyzing the risk, Caroline decides to go all in. Her competitive side quickly takes over as she argues that going all in every time is the mathematically optimal strategy.

As The Altruists trailer moves forward, we see the two exchanging looks, smiling at each other, showing their bond is also getting stronger. At one point, Sam proposes an idea of building their own cryptocurrency exchange named FTX, with the aim of changing the world. Both Sam and Caroline are ambitious young minds, which makes the pair even more driven to change the financial world.

He also starts deciding who should join their team to help make their plan work, while making it clear to Caroline that he wants them to stay side by side all the way. Their business eventually succeeds, as he says in a line:

"We are making a million dollars a day."

Caroline believes that if they reinvest every day, they simply can't lose. But that confidence soon starts to look like a warning sign as someone tells them that they are so smart yet so stupid. Caroline sticks to her thinking from the beginning, making it clear once again that she either goes all in or is out of the whole plan.

In another scene in The Altruists trailer, Caroline says that lying isn't bad if it is for a good cause, but what will happen if The Wall Street Journal finds out what he is hiding, hinting at the secrets and scandal building around them. Sam also seems worried about their lies getting caught as he turns to the same person who called them smart and stupid previously and asks him to promise that he won't say anything to anyone.

They are accused of stealing $8 billion dollars from customers, as Sam says he messed up. Towards the end of the trailer, Caroline tells him that she doesn't know whom she can trust as he asks her:

"You trust me, right?"

As reported by Tudum, Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison were romantically involved before FTX collapsed. The two were later accused of stealing $8 billion from FTX customers. Caroline spent more than a year behind bars, while Bankman-Fried was given a 25-year prison sentence.

Speaking of how things went so wrong, Moore says it all started with a "little white lie," which slowly turned into a bigger lie, and then another one after that. Jacqueline Hoyt said in a reported statement by Tudum:

"They were going to challenge the system. But through their relationship, they ended up breaking the system, and tearing an $8 billion hole in FTX."

The Altruists is scheduled to be released on November 19 on Netflix.

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