3 ms·

Let's be clear, he's ranked #6 political donor. #2 donor to Democrats, only behind George Soros. Donated $35.7 million to democrats, $240k to republicans. htt

Let's be clear, he's ranked #6 political donor. #2 donor to Democrats, only behind George Soros. Donated $35.7 million to democrats, $240k to republicans. https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/biggest-donors?cycle=2022 https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/biggest-donor... It will be a galvanizing event to see how he is punished for scamming billions of dollars from regular joes. Especially after Elizabeth Holmes got 11 year for scamming on a significantly smaller scale.

fallingknife 4y ago
Elizabeth Holmes also faked blood test results, so it was more than just a scam.
- lupire 4y ago
  Theranos/Holmes lied about how they did tests, not the test results themselves.
skinnymuch 4y ago
Holmes lied about medical stuff. That’s way different. The issue with her is more that than the financial fraud.
- pests 4y ago
  The court case had nothing to do with medical claims or what she did to people or her bad tests - she was convicted of one count of conspiracy and three counts of wire fraud. 100% about financial fraud.
  - jmull 4y ago
    "nothing to do" is not true. Holmes and Balwani were indicted for crimes both for medical claims and claims to investors It's just that they were convicted only on the financial charges. Also, I think it's vert likely the medical fraud made the priority of this case significantly higher. It's the kind of thing that makes people mad and prosecutors pay attention.
    - pests 4y ago
      An indictment is just an accusation. A court would need to decide if she was guilty or innocent on the medical fraud charges, no?
- somenameforme 4y ago
  Financial fraud has some of the stiffest punishments that there are. Every single charge generally carries up to 20+ years. Madoff, for instance, ended up getting 150 years. Of course Madoff ripped of the elites of society while SBF ripped off commoners and gave to the elites, something like a reverse Robin Hood. Real surprise the Sheriff of Nottingham doesn't seem quite so interested in his misdeeds in our tale.
  - skinnymuch 4y ago
    I believe Madoff was sentenced so long to set an example. He was going to die in prison or be incredibly old when he would have got out regardless. His brother is out of prison now. Were any other people in their orbit sent to prison? We have people in prison for life for 3rd time marijuana charges. We are still putting people in prison for long periods of time for repeat non-violent offenses. Imprisoned populations are disproportionately of certain demographics. Many see all of this as a sign of classism and racism.
KptMarchewa 4y ago
And then on #14 is another FTX executive that donates exclusively to republicans.
throwoutway 4y ago
Nearly every story before this on HN was "he gave to republicans too!" yet the numbers you show is that he gave less than 1% to republics, and >99% of it to Democrats. I guess anyone who wants to be considered bi-partisan can just throw a few dollars at the other party now
- bogomipz 4y ago
  It looks like the Republican's that he gave to were moderate Republicans like Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins and so likely part of the same overall strategy. Moderates are outliers in the party as they aren't afraid not to vote along strict party lines. If you look at the infographic on the WSJ article though I think it's much more telling of FTX's bi-partisan influence: SBF gave $35.9 million to liberal groups Ryan Salame gave $21.6 million Conservative groups Both of those are large numbers.

fallingknife 4y ago

Elizabeth Holmes also faked blood test results, so it was more than just a scam.

lupire 4y ago
Theranos/Holmes lied about how they did tests, not the test results themselves.

skinnymuch 4y ago

Holmes lied about medical stuff. That’s way different. The issue with her is more that than the financial fraud.

pests 4y ago
The court case had nothing to do with medical claims or what she did to people or her bad tests - she was convicted of one count of conspiracy and three counts of wire fraud. 100% about financial fraud.
- jmull 4y ago
  "nothing to do" is not true. Holmes and Balwani were indicted for crimes both for medical claims and claims to investors It's just that they were convicted only on the financial charges. Also, I think it's vert likely the medical fraud made the priority of this case significantly higher. It's the kind of thing that makes people mad and prosecutors pay attention.
  - pests 4y ago
    An indictment is just an accusation. A court would need to decide if she was guilty or innocent on the medical fraud charges, no?
somenameforme 4y ago
Financial fraud has some of the stiffest punishments that there are. Every single charge generally carries up to 20+ years. Madoff, for instance, ended up getting 150 years. Of course Madoff ripped of the elites of society while SBF ripped off commoners and gave to the elites, something like a reverse Robin Hood. Real surprise the Sheriff of Nottingham doesn't seem quite so interested in his misdeeds in our tale.
- skinnymuch 4y ago
  I believe Madoff was sentenced so long to set an example. He was going to die in prison or be incredibly old when he would have got out regardless. His brother is out of prison now. Were any other people in their orbit sent to prison? We have people in prison for life for 3rd time marijuana charges. We are still putting people in prison for long periods of time for repeat non-violent offenses. Imprisoned populations are disproportionately of certain demographics. Many see all of this as a sign of classism and racism.

KptMarchewa 4y ago

And then on #14 is another FTX executive that donates exclusively to republicans.

throwoutway 4y ago

Nearly every story before this on HN was "he gave to republicans too!" yet the numbers you show is that he gave less than 1% to republics, and >99% of it to Democrats. I guess anyone who wants to be considered bi-partisan can just throw a few dollars at the other party now

bogomipz 4y ago
It looks like the Republican's that he gave to were moderate Republicans like Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins and so likely part of the same overall strategy. Moderates are outliers in the party as they aren't afraid not to vote along strict party lines. If you look at the infographic on the WSJ article though I think it's much more telling of FTX's bi-partisan influence: SBF gave $35.9 million to liberal groups Ryan Salame gave $21.6 million Conservative groups Both of those are large numbers.