‘Misinformation, hype, and fraud’: Inside Ben McKenzie’s scathing new crypto doc—featuring Sam Bankman-Fried

Ben McKenzie knows that his main claim to fame is, still, starring in The O.C., a Fox TV series that bowed out nearly 20 years ago.

That’s why he begins his new documentary with a self-deprecating medley of clips featuring him being introduced as such. It’s a disarming transition to the film itself, which is a dire warning about what he views as possibly “the largest Ponzi scheme in history.”

When the pandemic hit, and acting work vanished, McKenzie, who majored in economics at the University of Virginia, began a now six-year-long quest to understand the crypto industry, a research odyssey that he developed into a 2023 book, Easy Money.

Now he’s turned that book into a scathing new documentary that he wrote, directed, stars in, and funded called Everyone is Lying to You for Money. It hits theaters in New York and Los Angeles on April 17, followed by Boston, Washington D.C., Austin, San Francisco, and Portland.

The movie depicts McKenzie’s journey toward trying to understand crypto, one that took him from Miami to London to El Salvador. It includes footage from interviews he did with victims and fraudsters alike, including the industry’s now-fallen hero, Sam Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried spoke with McKenzie in July 2022, months before being arrested and consequently beginning his 25-year federal sentence for seven counts of fraud, including stealing $8 billion from customers. Since Bankman-Fried’s conviction, decentralized digital currency has risen again, and McKenzie believes that his movie is even more relevant now.