Key points
- Netflix releases all eight episodes of The Altruists on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026, a limited series dramatizing the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange.
- Anthony Boyle plays Sam Bankman-Fried and Julia Garner plays Caroline Ellison, under showrunners Graham Moore and Jacqueline Hoyt.
- The court record is settled: Bankman-Fried is serving 25 years, and a federal appeals court upheld his conviction on June 12, 2026.
- A separate Prime Video docuseries, The Boy Who Stole Billions?, follows on Monday, Nov. 30, with three episodes and interviews recorded in prison.
Contents
The FTX scandal reaches prestige TV next week. The Altruists, an eight-part limited series, premieres worldwide on Netflix on Thursday, Nov. 19, and the whole season drops at once.
It’s a scripted drama, not a documentary. According to Netflix Tudum, the show is inspired by New York magazine’s reporting on the crypto exchange and the young executives who ran it. Here is what the series covers, who’s in it, which parts of the story come from court records, and where to watch.
The Altruists on Netflix: release date and episode count
All eight episodes will be available on Netflix on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026, as a single binge release. The trailer came out on Oct. 8.
Netflix sums up the story this way: a group of young, ambitious idealists set out to rebuild the global financial system, then face accusations of taking $8 billion through their exchange, FTX. In the series, that arc runs through the relationship between Bankman-Fried and Ellison, who was his girlfriend and business partner.
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You need a Netflix subscription to watch. The series is a Netflix original released globally.
Anthony Boyle and Julia Garner lead the FTX cast
Anthony Boyle plays Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX founder. Boyle is the Northern Irish actor known for Masters of the Air and Netflix‘s House of Guinness. Julia Garner, an Emmy winner for Ozark, plays Caroline Ellison, the former head of the trading firm Alameda Research. Garner is also an executive producer.
Netflix‘s cast list for the rest of the FTX circle:
- Alex Lawther as Sam Trabucco
- Matt Rife as Ryan Salame
- Karan Soni as Nishad Singh
- Eugene Young as Gary Wang
- Madison Hu as Constance Wang
- Naomi Okada as Claire Watanabe
Jennifer Grey, Paul Reiser, Robin Weigert, Terry Chen and William Mapother are in the recurring cast.
Behind the camera, Graham Moore and Jacqueline Hoyt are co-showrunners and co-writers. Moore won an Oscar for The Imitation Game. James Ponsoldt directs the first episode. Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Mairzee Almas, Moore himself and Silver Tree direct the rest. Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground is among the production companies, alongside Scoop Productions, New York magazine and Vox Media Studios. Filming took place in Vancouver from July to November 2025.
What is fact and what is dramatization?
The broad outline of the story is public record. The details on screen are a writers’ room’s work. Netflix calls the series « inspired by » magazine reporting, which makes it an adaptation, not a transcript.
These points come from court proceedings and official decisions:
- FTX collapsed in November 2022 and filed for bankruptcy. Customers could no longer get their money out.
- Ellison pleaded guilty in December 2022 to charges that included wire fraud, securities and commodities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. She then cooperated with prosecutors.
- A Manhattan federal jury convicted Bankman-Fried in November 2023 on seven counts: two of fraud and five of conspiracy. Ellison testified against him at trial, as did former colleagues Gary Wang and Nishad Singh.
- U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison on March 28, 2024.
- On Sept. 24, 2024, Judge Kaplan sentenced Ellison to two years in prison and ordered an $11 billion forfeiture. He praised how much her cooperation had helped the case.
- On June 12, 2026, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld Bankman-Fried’s conviction and sentence.
For Ellison’s release, the trade outlet The Block cites the Federal Bureau of Prisons: she left federal custody in January 2026. She had started her sentence in Connecticut in November 2024 and moved to a New York halfway house in October 2025.
The dramatized part covers private conversations, the inner life of the characters, the timing of scenes and the dialogue. All of it is written for television. No line of dialogue should be read as a quote from the real people.
The show focuses on two real figures, so viewers should keep that in mind. Netflix‘s own logline speaks of an accusation, not a verdict. The verdict came from the court, as summarized above.
A short FTX timeline before you press play
If you followed the case only from a distance, these dates will help you place the episodes:
- November 2022: FTX goes bankrupt after customers rush to withdraw.
- December 2022: Bankman-Fried is arrested in the Bahamas and Ellison pleads guilty in the US.
- November 2023: a jury in Manhattan convicts Bankman-Fried on all seven counts.
- March 28, 2024: he is sentenced to 25 years.
- Sept. 24, 2024: Ellison receives a two-year sentence.
- January 2026: Ellison is released from federal custody.
- June 12, 2026: the appeals court affirms Bankman-Fried’s conviction.
- Nov. 19, 2026: The Altruists premieres on Netflix.
Prime Video answers with a Bankman-Fried docuseries on Nov. 30
Viewers who want the story without dramatization can turn to Prime Video eleven days later. The Boy Who Stole Billions? drops on Monday, Nov. 30, all three episodes at once, according to the November calendar published by TVLine.
Amazon says the docuseries will stream in more than 240 countries and territories. It includes interviews Bankman-Fried gave from prison, as well as interviews with members of FTX’s founding team. Nanette Burstein is among the executive producers. Amazon MGM Studios, Propagate and West Buttermilk produce it.
The two projects tell the same story differently. Netflix offers a scripted version built from journalism. Prime Video lets the convicted founder speak on camera, and that perspective should be weighed against the jury’s verdict and the appeals ruling.
How to watch The Altruists and what comes next
You don’t need to do anything special: on Nov. 19, the series appears in the Netflix app, on the website and on connected TVs in every market where the service runs. All eight episodes will be there.
To watch both, the Netflix drama comes first and the Prime Video documentary follows on Nov. 30.
