4 ms·

A lawyer would be a negative towards the defense he’s already playing which is the “idiot defense”. [1] If he acquired representation it would make him appear

A lawyer would be a negative towards the defense he’s already playing which is the “idiot defense”. [1] If he acquired representation it would make him appear to: 1) be aware that he did something wrong 2) make his idiotic statements unreliable going forward as a lawyer would filter his statements 3) give the prosecution enough to work with to break his idiot defense. This is all part of his plan to evade accountability and prison time. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot_defense https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot_defense

stickfigure 4y ago
This is probably the right answer. It also helps if he is, to some extent, an Idiot. It's even possible that he genuinely feels bad.
- nemo44x 4y ago
  It’s fairly immaterial to the fact he defrauded American investors and he should be prosecuted.
  - dieselgate 4y ago
    Commenting because genuinely curious - i thought FTX international was the org where people were defrauded but FTX.us was a “separate entity” where customers could be made whole tomorrow.
    - notch656a 4y ago
      It seems convenient that the customers in US jurisdiction magically are precisely the customers who weren't (supposedly) defrauded.
      - imtringued 4y ago
        In my opinion it sounds like it is too difficult to start a proper exchange. After all if countries and their financial regulatory were cooperative only a fraction of funds would have been lost because the Bahamas company would be just a holding company.
cma 4y ago
And his parents can be defacto acting as his lawyers anyway.
- selimthegrim 4y ago
  When’s the last time they argued a case in court?
  - cma 4y ago
    This is pre-court phase.
dmix 4y ago
It's a negative because no lawyer would agree to such a dumb strategy. I'm doubtful it's a coherent pre-planned legal strategy though. Playing dumb isn't a legal defense. Considering his obsession with "altruistic" charity, it makes sense he'd take an altruistic approach to the media backlash... Something detached from a purely rational/economic approach that places communicating his own good intentions as the most important metric.
- nemo44x 4y ago
  Then why is he doing all these idiotic things? He’s either an idiot (which I don’t believe) or it’s an act.
  - dmix 4y ago
    He hasn’t said anything egregious but considering he is fully aware he lost $5B and knows he had a positive public image he would like to maintain, I’d bet he cares as much about how he appears in public as much or more than he cares about not going to jail. Ego is occams razor There is no a good legal strategy here by talking like this no matter how you spin it. He just desperately wants to come off as a hapless good guy who got in over his head, even if it makes prosecution easier. I’m not buying the brilliant conman narrative until I see more evidence he actually profited from this more than some $16M house for his already upper-middle class family.
    - nemo44x 4y ago
      Oh I don’t think it’s a brilliant strategy but rather one of desperation. I do like the idea he just thinks he can good-guy himself out of it.
      - dmix 4y ago
        Yeah I don't remember a case of someone doing the awk-shucks routine as dedicate as SBF in the recent history of major financial scandals. Maybe that's what got him money in the first place? A disarming pseduo-honesty.

stickfigure 4y ago

This is probably the right answer. It also helps if he is, to some extent, an Idiot. It's even possible that he genuinely feels bad.

nemo44x 4y ago
It’s fairly immaterial to the fact he defrauded American investors and he should be prosecuted.
- dieselgate 4y ago
  Commenting because genuinely curious - i thought FTX international was the org where people were defrauded but FTX.us was a “separate entity” where customers could be made whole tomorrow.
  - notch656a 4y ago
    It seems convenient that the customers in US jurisdiction magically are precisely the customers who weren't (supposedly) defrauded.
    - imtringued 4y ago
      In my opinion it sounds like it is too difficult to start a proper exchange. After all if countries and their financial regulatory were cooperative only a fraction of funds would have been lost because the Bahamas company would be just a holding company.

cma 4y ago

And his parents can be defacto acting as his lawyers anyway.

selimthegrim 4y ago
When’s the last time they argued a case in court?
- cma 4y ago
  This is pre-court phase.

dmix 4y ago

It's a negative because no lawyer would agree to such a dumb strategy. I'm doubtful it's a coherent pre-planned legal strategy though. Playing dumb isn't a legal defense. Considering his obsession with "altruistic" charity, it makes sense he'd take an altruistic approach to the media backlash... Something detached from a purely rational/economic approach that places communicating his own good intentions as the most important metric.

nemo44x 4y ago
Then why is he doing all these idiotic things? He’s either an idiot (which I don’t believe) or it’s an act.
- dmix 4y ago
  He hasn’t said anything egregious but considering he is fully aware he lost $5B and knows he had a positive public image he would like to maintain, I’d bet he cares as much about how he appears in public as much or more than he cares about not going to jail. Ego is occams razor There is no a good legal strategy here by talking like this no matter how you spin it. He just desperately wants to come off as a hapless good guy who got in over his head, even if it makes prosecution easier. I’m not buying the brilliant conman narrative until I see more evidence he actually profited from this more than some $16M house for his already upper-middle class family.
  - nemo44x 4y ago
    Oh I don’t think it’s a brilliant strategy but rather one of desperation. I do like the idea he just thinks he can good-guy himself out of it.
    - dmix 4y ago
      Yeah I don't remember a case of someone doing the awk-shucks routine as dedicate as SBF in the recent history of major financial scandals. Maybe that's what got him money in the first place? A disarming pseduo-honesty.