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You forget he was also the 2nd largest donor to the Democratic Party last year, and allegedly gave plenty to Republicans as "dark money" (though he only said th

You forget he was also the 2nd largest donor to the Democratic Party last year, and allegedly gave plenty to Republicans as "dark money" (though he only said that after the Democratic donations came out, so it could be a lie to save face). If you won your election with SBF funds, it undermines the will to prosecute, or to view him as the conman he is instead of a stupid young guy. For that reason, don't be surprised when Democratic Party leaders send out apologetic messages like this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33836009 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33836009

chadash 4y ago
This ignores the parent comment. Whether or not members of the democratic party want to throw him in jail is irrelevant since they are not able to so long as he is in a different country. If he can convince the bahamas not to prosecute, nothing else really matters.
- DennisP 4y ago
  The US has an extradition treaty with the Bahamas.
  - PaulHoule 4y ago
    It adds a few more steps. It's a good rule of thumb that if you are hacking you should target victims in another country other than your own. I think the Netherlands (say) could get you extradited from the US, but it is a lot of work and the whole process of investigation leading up to to that extradition is going to be slowed down since the police won't be able to use the same powers they could do if you were in their jurisdiction. Most likely they'll go prosecute some easier case and only go after you if the results of your hack are particularly larger, visible and embarrassing.
    - gjsman-1000 4y ago
      Even better, escape to England, appeal against the conditions of the US prison system: "In January 2021, a British judge ruled Australian-born Assange should not be extradited, saying his mental health meant he would be at risk of suicide if convicted and held in a maximum security prison. But that decision was overturned after an appeal by U.S. authorities who gave a package of assurances, including a pledge he could be transferred to Australia to serve any sentence." https://www.reuters.com/world/julian-assange-appeals-european-court-over-us-extradition-2022-12-02/?taid=638a56ef239b0200013be693 https://www.reuters.com/world/julian-assange-appeals-europea... @LegitShady It delayed his extradition for years while court cases and appeals worked out - and, if it goes through, he'll escape to an Australian prison instead of an American one. Worked as well as it could compared to alternatives.
      - LegitShady 4y ago
        in other words, it doesn't work
    - jasonhansel 4y ago
      In particular, the US police won't be able to just show up at FTX's headquarters with a search warrant.
  - freejazz 4y ago
    Congress doesn't control the justice department and cannot bring charges... Maxine really has nothing to do with it.
  - chadash 4y ago
    Yeah, but they can't just go there and arrest him. Right now, the US and the bahamas seem to be in dispute over where to hold the bankruptcy. So there's some territorial beef. It's entirely in the hands of the Bahamas to arrest him and turn him over, if they decide to turn him over at all. In any case, it's common for extradition to take months or even years.
lalos 4y ago
Being a donor doesn't save you from being arrested, see Madoff https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/12/madoff-and-company-spent-nearl/ https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/12/madoff-and-company-...
Kye 4y ago
He got high on his own supply and put too much into the scheme. He can't exactly threaten to stop donating if he has no money to spare for it. Absent that, the PR value of being able to frame it as fighting corrupt business practices is enormous.
martinflack 4y ago
If donations is a factor, it would be more logical for politicians to consider the likelihood of future donations rather than past ones. In fact, if the chance of future donations is close to zero, there is a certain appeal in making an example of SBF to "prove" that donations do not matter in this way. (I'm still mulling whether they do or not; just commenting on the game theory.)
- bombcar 4y ago
  I think the argument would be that said second largest donor would have beans to spill if they get arrested.
- phpisthebest 4y ago
  >there is a certain appeal in making an example No politician wants to make an example of any white collar crime for they are all criminals themselves and they fear someone making an example of them
- MrPatan 4y ago
  You forget the example the politicians want to make to other future donors. If you let him hang because he doesn't have more money to give you, nobody else is going to give you anything.
  - projektfu 4y ago
    On the other hand it's not good when they embarrass you, regardless of how much they might have put in. If you make it clear that being hung out to dry will be the punishment for embarrassment, maybe you'll get fewer of those donations.
aschearer 4y ago
He was also the 3rd largest donor to the Republican Party, or so he claims: https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-says-hes-the-republicans-third-biggest-donor-2022-11 https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-says-hes-t...
- tick_tock_tick 4y ago
  Convenient that there are no records.....
  - aschearer 4y ago
    Thanks, Citizens United.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- umeshunni 4y ago
  He claims many things, but as we have learned, it's best not to believe what he claims.
smcl 4y ago
Wouldn't those open contributions not encourage any implicated Dems to go hard on him, as a measure of self-preservation to prove to the electorate they weren't being bought (whether or not that was the original intention)?
- MrPatan 4y ago
  Depends on the message they want to send to future potential donors.
  - smcl 4y ago
    Yeah good thinking - man figuring out the politician meta is really kinda tough
fallingknife 4y ago
Being a prospective future donor is what gets you special treatment, not being a past donor. SBF is not going to be making big donations to anyone anytime soon, so all his donations will get him nothing.
majormajor 4y ago
Which specific prosecutors do you think won election with SBF funds that you think should be already after him?
graeme 4y ago
No, I’m not forgetting that. You’re ignoring my comment. SBF was a donor to those politicians, but a conspirator with the attorney general. Whole other level of involvement. The US can put in an extradition request and it will be handled…by the same attorney general who is in on it. Re: your link, getting SBT to testify would be a win, especially if he was physically travels to the US to do so, where he could be arrested. The general legal strategy when under threat is to say nothing that can be used against you.
bink 4y ago
I keep seeing comments like this on HN and it's disappointing. His co-CEO donated $20 million to Republican causes as well. There is no conspiracy here. It isn't even proper to say that there's the normal favoritism shown to business that donate to both parties. There's no evidence of any favoritism at all yet and comments like these just play into the tribalism that's greatly damaged the US over the last few decades.
- mcrad 4y ago
  I see mostly Dem and Dem-leaning celebrities been talking up crypto, and a conservative side more educated and knowledgeable about dysfunction in the financial sector as a whole. So even without any stats on the donations, it seems fairly logical to suggest party favoritism is at play.
  - Rekksu 4y ago
    Genuinely ludicrous to say that cryptocurrency has historically been talked up by Democrats; similarly, Republicans have historically been vastly more trusting of the financial industry
    - mcrad 4y ago
      I mean ludicrous that since 2009 it's Democratic thinking to bail out the banks, sweep inflation concerns under the rug, spend more money, funding unprofitable tech companies etc. I never said Republicans aren't in on the deal, just that it's obvious one side leading the charge on those things.
      - hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
        > I mean ludicrous that since 2009 it's Democratic thinking to bail out the banks, sweep inflation concerns under the rug, Again, more ludicrous tribalism. The Great Recession bailout was all orchestrated under Bush. Trump famously was hounding Powell to lower rates before the pandemic, which would have had even more disastrous inflation consequences, just to make the stock market go up.
root_axis 4y ago
> If you won your election with SBF funds, it undermines the will to prosecute This reasoning doesn't make sense to me, they already accepted and spent the money, if anything that's an incentive to prosecute in order to cultivate a perception of distance from his wrongdoing.
MuffinFlavored 4y ago
Why would he donate to both parties?
- licebmi__at__ 4y ago
  To get friendly with politicians on both parties?
- hairofadog 4y ago
  Many (but not all) corporations and wealthy people donate to both political parties because it gives them access and influence, generally with the idea of furthering their own specific goals as opposed to advancing a broad policy agenda.
  - MuffinFlavored 4y ago
    ah. thanks. do we know if SBF leaned one way or the other politically?
    - vasco 4y ago
      All we know is he was very into misplacing other people's money.
wpietri 4y ago
What do you base this on? Even if we're assuming political corruption is in play, what drives improper political favors is the potential for future money. SBF is broke and will be for many years to come. If anything, politicians will be lining up to throw him under the bus because they've got all they money they're going to get from him and there's political capital to be had from him going to jail.

chadash 4y ago

This ignores the parent comment. Whether or not members of the democratic party want to throw him in jail is irrelevant since they are not able to so long as he is in a different country. If he can convince the bahamas not to prosecute, nothing else really matters.

DennisP 4y ago
The US has an extradition treaty with the Bahamas.
- PaulHoule 4y ago
  It adds a few more steps. It's a good rule of thumb that if you are hacking you should target victims in another country other than your own. I think the Netherlands (say) could get you extradited from the US, but it is a lot of work and the whole process of investigation leading up to to that extradition is going to be slowed down since the police won't be able to use the same powers they could do if you were in their jurisdiction. Most likely they'll go prosecute some easier case and only go after you if the results of your hack are particularly larger, visible and embarrassing.
  - gjsman-1000 4y ago
    Even better, escape to England, appeal against the conditions of the US prison system: "In January 2021, a British judge ruled Australian-born Assange should not be extradited, saying his mental health meant he would be at risk of suicide if convicted and held in a maximum security prison. But that decision was overturned after an appeal by U.S. authorities who gave a package of assurances, including a pledge he could be transferred to Australia to serve any sentence." https://www.reuters.com/world/julian-assange-appeals-european-court-over-us-extradition-2022-12-02/?taid=638a56ef239b0200013be693 https://www.reuters.com/world/julian-assange-appeals-europea... @LegitShady It delayed his extradition for years while court cases and appeals worked out - and, if it goes through, he'll escape to an Australian prison instead of an American one. Worked as well as it could compared to alternatives.
    - LegitShady 4y ago
      in other words, it doesn't work
  - jasonhansel 4y ago
    In particular, the US police won't be able to just show up at FTX's headquarters with a search warrant.
- freejazz 4y ago
  Congress doesn't control the justice department and cannot bring charges... Maxine really has nothing to do with it.
- chadash 4y ago
  Yeah, but they can't just go there and arrest him. Right now, the US and the bahamas seem to be in dispute over where to hold the bankruptcy. So there's some territorial beef. It's entirely in the hands of the Bahamas to arrest him and turn him over, if they decide to turn him over at all. In any case, it's common for extradition to take months or even years.

lalos 4y ago

Being a donor doesn't save you from being arrested, see Madoff https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/12/madoff-and-company-spent-nearl/ https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/12/madoff-and-company-...

Kye 4y ago

He got high on his own supply and put too much into the scheme. He can't exactly threaten to stop donating if he has no money to spare for it. Absent that, the PR value of being able to frame it as fighting corrupt business practices is enormous.

martinflack 4y ago

If donations is a factor, it would be more logical for politicians to consider the likelihood of future donations rather than past ones. In fact, if the chance of future donations is close to zero, there is a certain appeal in making an example of SBF to "prove" that donations do not matter in this way. (I'm still mulling whether they do or not; just commenting on the game theory.)

bombcar 4y ago
I think the argument would be that said second largest donor would have beans to spill if they get arrested.
phpisthebest 4y ago
>there is a certain appeal in making an example No politician wants to make an example of any white collar crime for they are all criminals themselves and they fear someone making an example of them
MrPatan 4y ago
You forget the example the politicians want to make to other future donors. If you let him hang because he doesn't have more money to give you, nobody else is going to give you anything.
- projektfu 4y ago
  On the other hand it's not good when they embarrass you, regardless of how much they might have put in. If you make it clear that being hung out to dry will be the punishment for embarrassment, maybe you'll get fewer of those donations.

aschearer 4y ago

He was also the 3rd largest donor to the Republican Party, or so he claims: https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-says-hes-the-republicans-third-biggest-donor-2022-11 https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-says-hes-t...

tick_tock_tick 4y ago
Convenient that there are no records.....
- aschearer 4y ago
  Thanks, Citizens United.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
umeshunni 4y ago
He claims many things, but as we have learned, it's best not to believe what he claims.

smcl 4y ago

Wouldn't those open contributions not encourage any implicated Dems to go hard on him, as a measure of self-preservation to prove to the electorate they weren't being bought (whether or not that was the original intention)?

MrPatan 4y ago
Depends on the message they want to send to future potential donors.
- smcl 4y ago
  Yeah good thinking - man figuring out the politician meta is really kinda tough

fallingknife 4y ago

Being a prospective future donor is what gets you special treatment, not being a past donor. SBF is not going to be making big donations to anyone anytime soon, so all his donations will get him nothing.

majormajor 4y ago

Which specific prosecutors do you think won election with SBF funds that you think should be already after him?

graeme 4y ago

No, I’m not forgetting that. You’re ignoring my comment. SBF was a donor to those politicians, but a conspirator with the attorney general. Whole other level of involvement. The US can put in an extradition request and it will be handled…by the same attorney general who is in on it. Re: your link, getting SBT to testify would be a win, especially if he was physically travels to the US to do so, where he could be arrested. The general legal strategy when under threat is to say nothing that can be used against you.

bink 4y ago

I keep seeing comments like this on HN and it's disappointing. His co-CEO donated $20 million to Republican causes as well. There is no conspiracy here. It isn't even proper to say that there's the normal favoritism shown to business that donate to both parties. There's no evidence of any favoritism at all yet and comments like these just play into the tribalism that's greatly damaged the US over the last few decades.

mcrad 4y ago
I see mostly Dem and Dem-leaning celebrities been talking up crypto, and a conservative side more educated and knowledgeable about dysfunction in the financial sector as a whole. So even without any stats on the donations, it seems fairly logical to suggest party favoritism is at play.
- Rekksu 4y ago
  Genuinely ludicrous to say that cryptocurrency has historically been talked up by Democrats; similarly, Republicans have historically been vastly more trusting of the financial industry
  - mcrad 4y ago
    I mean ludicrous that since 2009 it's Democratic thinking to bail out the banks, sweep inflation concerns under the rug, spend more money, funding unprofitable tech companies etc. I never said Republicans aren't in on the deal, just that it's obvious one side leading the charge on those things.
    - hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
      > I mean ludicrous that since 2009 it's Democratic thinking to bail out the banks, sweep inflation concerns under the rug, Again, more ludicrous tribalism. The Great Recession bailout was all orchestrated under Bush. Trump famously was hounding Powell to lower rates before the pandemic, which would have had even more disastrous inflation consequences, just to make the stock market go up.

root_axis 4y ago

> If you won your election with SBF funds, it undermines the will to prosecute This reasoning doesn't make sense to me, they already accepted and spent the money, if anything that's an incentive to prosecute in order to cultivate a perception of distance from his wrongdoing.

MuffinFlavored 4y ago

Why would he donate to both parties?

licebmi__at__ 4y ago
To get friendly with politicians on both parties?
hairofadog 4y ago
Many (but not all) corporations and wealthy people donate to both political parties because it gives them access and influence, generally with the idea of furthering their own specific goals as opposed to advancing a broad policy agenda.
- MuffinFlavored 4y ago
  ah. thanks. do we know if SBF leaned one way or the other politically?
  - vasco 4y ago
    All we know is he was very into misplacing other people's money.

wpietri 4y ago

What do you base this on? Even if we're assuming political corruption is in play, what drives improper political favors is the potential for future money. SBF is broke and will be for many years to come. If anything, politicians will be lining up to throw him under the bus because they've got all they money they're going to get from him and there's political capital to be had from him going to jail.