Everyone Is Lying to You for Money

Join us for this special screening of the critically acclaimed documentary presented by the film’s director/producer Ben McKenzie. The evening will include an in-person Q&A moderated by Princeton professor and CNN political analyst, Julian E. Zelizer.

Following the film there will be a book signing in the lobby of McKenzie’s NYT bestseller that the documentary is based on — Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud. This book signing is in collaboration with Labyrinth Books.

With any and all things crypto being pushed by celebrities, influencers, and politicians alike, actor-turned-author and director Ben McKenzie decides to investigate. Leveraging his celebrity status to gain access to eager prospectors, McKenzie finds himself unraveling the loosely regulated world of cryptocurrency. This skeptical but evenhanded take on the present and future of what we consider money gives a firsthand account of the chaotic financial frontier of our time.

This screening is being made possible by Princeton University’s Effron Center and the Center for Migration and Development, the Griswold Center of Economic Studies, and the School of Public and International Affairs.

Ben McKenzie has been a fixture on TV for two decades (Gotham, Southland, and The O.C.). In 2020, he starred in the Broadway play Grand Horizons, which received a Tony Award nomination for Best New Play. Alongside journalist Jacob Silverman, he has written about cryptocurrency for The Washington Post, The Intercept, The New Republic, and Slate. Ben has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Financial Times, CNN, and MSNBC about crypto skepticism. He recently testified before the U.S. Congress as a witness in a Senate Banking Committee hearing on cryptocurrency and the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange. Ben’s debut book Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud became a New York Times bestseller and was longlisted for the Financial Times’ Business Book of the Year in 2023. Ben’s cryptocurrency documentary titled, Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, premiered at SXSW London in 2025 to critical acclaim.

Director Ben McKenzie

Country USA

Language English

Aspect 1.85

More info on IMDB ››