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SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities

• mugivarra69 4y ago
  where is caroline?
• trynewideas 4y ago
  What a time for Popehat to quit Twitter: https://popehat.substack.com/p/goodbye-twitter https://popehat.substack.com/p/goodbye-twitter
  • abawany 4y ago
    He is on Mastodon and Substack and certainly bringing his timely and usual joy to the former.
• deleted 4y ago
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• joezydeco 4y ago
  Guess that's one way to get out of testifying before the US Congress.
  • elcomet 4y ago
    It is specified in the document that they will extradite him to the US
    • Alupis 4y ago
      No, it says the US is likely to request extradition - but has not yet. SBF was scheduled to appear remotely (Zoom or similar) before congress tomorrow. It also says the US has filed criminal charges, which is the first I'm hearing of this. As an aside - anyone else think it makes congress appear weak to still be allowing people to remotely testify? They supposedly are the most powerful and important legislative body in the land, perhaps the world - yet they can't compel people to show up in person and treat the event with the deference it's supposed to deserve?
      • ender341341 4y ago
        Specifically they said that they arrested him because the US notified them they were pressing charges and likely to request extradition. I imagine that the 'likely to request extradition' is specific phrasing related to how the extradition treaty with the US is worded as I don't think anyone expects the request to not be made.
      • themitigating 4y ago
        You just can't give the current administration anything can you? It's like a mental block
        • Alupis 4y ago
          Congress is not the current administration. I have no idea where this comment came from... Congress is in session - meeting in person. Why should people be allowed to remotely testify at this point? It's congress - show up in person, it's important.
        • dang 4y ago
          Please don't take HN threads into partisan flamewar. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      • HDThoreaun 4y ago
        > anyone else think it makes congress appear weak to still be allowing people to remotely testify? Not really. Not being compelled to testify against yourself is also one of the most important rights this country has enshrined.
        • Alupis 4y ago
          > Not really. Not being compelled to testify against yourself is also one of the most important rights this country has enshrined. Congress isn't a court, and he was not testifying because congress arrested him or anything - it doesn't work that way. He was going to testify - and a lot of people testify in front of congress all the time. But you used to have to do it in person until the pandemic. Now that congress is back to in-person session - so should the people who are testifying.
    • colechristensen 4y ago
      Yes but will they do it in a handful of hours?
      • joezydeco 4y ago
        Ever heard of Island Time?
    • LarryMullins 4y ago
      Can they simultaneously criminally charge him and force him to testify before Congress without violating his 5th amendment rights? I think getting charged criminally does get him out of having to testify to Congress, or at least it should.
      • HideousKojima 4y ago
        He can pleas the 5th to congress
        • Mistletoe 4y ago
          He should have pleaded the fifth to all those self incriminating interviews he has been doing.
      • jrochkind1 4y ago
        You don't have to have been charged to have 5th ammendment rights or be able to exersize them. He could have pled the 5th and not said anything whether or not they already charged him, it doesn't change that. (If they grant you immunity , so they can't charge you even in the future, that's the only thing that gets you out of being able to plead the fifth).
      • shagie 4y ago
        Back in the 80s... https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-02-mn-916-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-02-mn-916-st... > North Takes Fifth Amendment in Testimony to Senate Panel : Claimed Protection at Least 40 Times, One Source Says > WASHINGTON — Congressional sources said today that fired National Security Council aide Lt. Col. Oliver L. North took the Fifth Amendment during his testimony Monday before the Senate Intelligence Committee. > One source, who, like the others demanded anonymity, said North took the Fifth Amendment at least 40 times. Another source said he declined to answer a number of questions put to him by senators and committee staff members. > Asked about an apparent contradiction between Sen. Dave Durenberger’s contention that witnesses had been candid and the report that North refused to answer many questions, committee spokesman Dave Holliday said he would make no attempt to clear it up. --- NORTH SAID TO USE FIFTH AMENDMENT - https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/02/world/north-said-to-use-fifth-amendment.html https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/02/world/north-said-to-use-f... > ... > The Fifth Amendment protects an individual in any proceeding from being required to give testimony that he feels may incriminate him. Invoking it carries no implication of guilt. > Senator David Durenberger, Republican of Minnesota, who is chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, likened the proceedings before the panel to a grand jury investigation. He said witnesses were testifying under oath.
• s5300 4y ago
  rip in peace kid. Hope the League games & amphetamines were a few lifetimes of fun.
  • senectus1 4y ago
    rest in pieces in peace? thats dark.
    • mikrl 4y ago
      Here lies SBF Magnate of coins Hooverer of phet Legend of League Pinner of weasels
• misiti3780 4y ago
  I guess this means he wont be testifying tomorrow ? https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/12/sbf-scheduled-to-testify-tomorrow-at-us-house-hearing-on-ftx-collapse/ https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/12/sbf-scheduled-to-testify-t...
  • Forge36 4y ago
    Maybe this was the only way to ensure he testified
    • throw_m239339 4y ago
      > Maybe this was the only way to ensure he testified Nope, it doesn't make any sense to arrest him if the goal was to force him to testify in front of congress. Once he is placed under arrest then I'm pretty sure the house cannot make him testify if he is in custody, he becomes at the mercy of a judge and I imagine bail conditions will not allow him to talk in public about the case either.
      • beambot 4y ago
        If Congress issued a subpoena, why would any judge reasonably withhold a willing detainee? Also, it what universe would bail make sense for such an obvious flight risk?
        • from 4y ago
          Arthur Hayes of Bitmex got bail (after he agreed to extradition) and had substantial ties to Singapore. But then again he wasn’t looking at 40 years.
        • deleted 4y ago
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        • ender341341 4y ago
          He wasn't arrested by the US government (or US state government), the Bahamas arrested him after the DOJ said they were pressing charges and likely to request extradition. As for flight risk the Bahamas had previously confiscated his passport and he wasn't able to get himself smuggled out in the last 2 weeks so he doesn't appear hugely flighty, but then again knowing that he's being formally charged may change that.
• mardifoufs 4y ago
  Why did he stay in the bahamas? Was he allowed to travel?
  • magic_man 4y ago
    Maybe he was scared he was going to get arrested in the US?
    • LudwigNagasena 4y ago
      Is it a good reason to stay in a country that has an extradition treaty with the US?
      • 323 4y ago
        The only places safe from US are China, Russia, North Korea, Iran. FTX had a lot of customers in Hong Kong. So where do you go?
        • ender341341 4y ago
          Also, what does he offer any of those places. I guess he might be able to help NK with their crypto scams, but I'd prefer a US prison to even the better off in NK. Places don't just accept people running from the USG for shits and giggles, Russia accepted snowden to rub it in the US's face, not out of any belief he was a wronged hero.
        • Dustyl 4y ago
          North Korea might’ve welcomed another Blockchain advisor ever since Virgil Griffith’s imprisonment.
          • deleted 4y ago
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  • 323 4y ago
    It's an island. Tough to get off even if not arrested. I'm sure if he tried to get on a plane all kinds of "problems" would have appeared (computer not working, ...) If he tried a boat, "oh look, it's leaking oil, we can't let it leave and pollute the waters". Bahamas will have absolutely not let him get out of their sight. They have so much egg on their face. I can even see the titles if he left "Did he bribed Bahamas officials to look the other way?" ...
• rjbwork 4y ago
  Much sooner than I expected. Figured it'd be a couple of years before the AG was secure enough in their case to bring charges. This is MUCH faster than Madoff or Holmes. Then again, he's been much more out in the open about everything. He pretty much laid the prosecution's case out to the public for them.
  • object-a 4y ago
    People were mad that he kept getting invitations to speak, but I bet all those interviews and comments show up in evidence.
    • cm2187 4y ago
      Don't think people were mad about interviews, in fact there are many questions people expect him to answer. They were mad about puff pieces.
      • object-a 4y ago
        What's an example of a puff piece?
        • listenallyall 4y ago
          The NYT profiling him as a well-meaning genius who was so focused on fixing climate change and education that he just overlooked a few things at his company, gosh darn it.
          • spookthesunset 4y ago
            • torbTurret 4y ago
              But not the right-leaning newspapers? News flash (no pun intended): they’re all the same.
• deleted 4y ago
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• object-a 4y ago
  Inevitable, but a lot of talking heads used the delay after FTX's collapse to sow doubt about corruption, media failure, etc. Feds were probably gathering evidence from Day 1, and the restructuring CEO seems to have found it: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/BA/BA00/20221213/115246/HHRG-117-BA00-Wstate-RayJ-20221213.pdf https://docs.house.gov/meetings/BA/BA00/20221213/115246/HHRG...
  • ravel-bar-foo 4y ago
    FWIW, most of the presige media (NYTimes, WaPo, WSJ) have been running puff pieces which parrot SBF's claims of ignorance without much if any fact checking or investigation.
    • object-a 4y ago
      I'm not sure reporting that Alameda + FTX had little to no financial controls, terrible accounting, and unaccounted for deposits is really puffery, unless you stretch the definition. And I've seen stories about SBF spending FTX money on personal loans and Bahamas real estate all over the legacy media. Even the restructuring CEO couldn't account for all the lost funds until recently
      • hgdfhgdfhgdf 4y ago
        Coindesk said this about The New York Times' interview with SBF after the collapse: "Yaffe-Bellany says Bankman-Fried stayed on the line for over an hour – and yet there are no direct quotes concerning the conflict of interest between FTX and Alameda, neither a confirmation or denial that SBF illegally commingled funds between the two or further admissions of guilt. There's little sense SBF, who stepped down from the exchange, is taking responsibility for the situation. But, what, you want SBF to perjure himself? It’s a shame that Yaffe-Bellany wrote about Bankman-Fried’s cryptic Twitter thread, rather than the tweets he has been deleting. It sucks we know nothing more about the Bahamian withdrawals FTX opened, claiming it was at the behest of the island nation’s securities regulator – which the agency debunked."
• nelox 4y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33962116 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33962116
  • dang 4y ago
    We merged that one hither.
• laluser 4y ago
  About time. Hope the rest of FTX and Alameda folks responsible also face criminal charges.
  • colechristensen 4y ago
    There are a lot of people responsible because of things they did but also a lot of people responsible by being quite negligent. Actually more than the people who perpetrated the fraud, I hope the people who casually let it happen while doing none of their job to prevent it… I hope those people see real consequences. There are always going to be cheats and bullshitters, our first line of defense against them are the people who are supposed to be reasonable just saying “no” to the dude sucking at League during a pitch.
• throw_m239339 4y ago
  Just one day before the hearing at the US house? very interesting. Why not let him talk if he was going to incriminate himself more? Somebody sure didn't want him to talk tomorrow...
  • jazzyjackson 4y ago
    Whatever, he's been talking plenty in Twitter Spaces, pretty much confessing to co-mingling funds.
    • throw_m239339 4y ago
      > Whatever, he's been talking plenty in Twitter Spaces, pretty much confessing to co-mingling funds. None of that was under auth. "the prosecutor: but you said this on Twitter?" "SBF: I was no longer the CEO of FTX and I was just kidding".
      • function_seven 4y ago
        > "the prosecutor: but you said this on Twitter?" > "SBF: I was no longer the CEO of FTX and I was just kidding". Jury: "We don't buy it. Guilty"
      • ceejayoz 4y ago
        You don’t have to be under oath for it to be evidence.
      • ParaLaffer 4y ago
        Your honor, my client confessed to the murder while in police custody, in fact -- we have it on tape. But we're not allowed to use it since it was not under oath. Shucks.
  • pkaye 4y ago
    Apparently he was not going to testify. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/12/former-ftx-ceo-sam-bankman-fried-refuses-to-testify-by-senate-banking-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/12/former-ftx-ceo-sam-bankman-f...
• johnfn 4y ago
  Alright, well, now that that's done - let's go find all those people in the past threads who were saying things like SBF will never be arrested.
  • chinathrow 4y ago
    No, look forward and get Binance and the Tether guys.
    • from 4y ago
      What did Binance do wrong again? I don’t consider having faulty blockchain analysis software at a time (2018) when most blockchain analysis software wasn’t very good a crime. And the Iranians they supposedly aided all used VPNs and hid the fact that they were Iranian. I think the best the government will get out of Binance is a DPA but that’s just me.
      • bb88 4y ago
        This seems to be a reasonable article describing the possible Binance prosecution from earlier today. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/12/us-doj-is-split-over-charging-binance-as-crypto-world-falters.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/12/us-doj-is-split-over-chargin... But as a counterpoint, if they couldn't create AML controls for their exchange, they shouldn't have existed -- at least not until they built it.
      • wmf 4y ago
        Binance may "only" be guilty of market manipulation like BitMEX but we'll never know without opening the hood.
      • klyrs 4y ago
        They haven't been caught red-handed, but their reserve claims are highly suspect[1]. Predictions that Binance is next are pretty credible in my mind, and the DOJ is already looking[2] in that direction. [1] https://mishtalk.com/economics/binances-alleged-crypto-audit-failed-not-even-its-auditor-would-vouch-for-it https://mishtalk.com/economics/binances-alleged-crypto-audit... [2] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/12/doj-divided-over-charging-binance-for-alleged-crypto-crimes-report-says/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/12/doj-divided-over...
• ceytocun 4y ago
  Hopefully we will see this as a powerful turning point, heralding an end to cryptocurrency, with all its false promises of financial utopia. Turns out it was nothing more than a series of scams, and the ensuing court cases will prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt. This entire edifice will come crumbling down, and take this entire sordid industry with it. One can hope.
  • politician 4y ago
    > false promises I hear your anger, but consider that this is the one financial system where self-custody is an an actual workable option. You can't store 100M USD under a mattress. You can't deploy large amounts of cash without permission from governments. In the US, banks have to report transactions over $600 to the IRS. That said, use Monero. It's the only one of these things that protects privacy.
  • siftrics 4y ago
    You're misinformed. Depositors were stolen from because they did not self-custody. You can't take someone else' funds on a blockchain, except by physical threat or profound custodial negligence.
• gjvc 4y ago
  Will people please stop calling this cretin by his cutesy name. This aura of personality over details of the operations of is a tell of a scammer.
  • cowuser666 4y ago
    So then what's the problem?
    • gjvc 4y ago
      because, as the cryptocurrency fanatics are so fond of saying, "Few understand this."
• deleted 4y ago
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• deleted 4y ago
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• esturk 4y ago
  Now we'll see if having both parents who are Stanford Law Professors, and possibly many other legal minded connections, will save him from going to jail.
  • ksherlock 4y ago
    Per today's WSJ article, they're currently in the Bahamas with him. https://www.wsj.com/articles/sam-bankman-frieds-parents-were-there-for-ftxs-rise-and-now-its-fall-11670841001 https://www.wsj.com/articles/sam-bankman-frieds-parents-were...
    • eddsh1994 4y ago
      Wouldn't you be with your child when the world media is talking about him? They are not teaching at Stanford next year anyway.
      • kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
        They live in a mansion he bought for them with the stolen money.
        • encryptluks2 4y ago
          Hopefully not for long. That should be sold off as part of the bankruptcy.
          • mardifoufs 4y ago
            Is it owned by FTX?
            • encryptluks2 4y ago
              If it was purchased with money that was obtained illegally then I don't think it will matter. We'll have to see how the charges pan out.
• jmyeet 4y ago
  For those saying "what took so long?", this is incredibly quick. It's still quicker than I thought it would be. But it is an open-and-shut case. As soon as you steal custodial assets (meaning customer assets that you'r eholding in trust), it's game over. Additionally, the US claims jurisdiction on pretty much anything that touches the US financial system. It's how the US can exert pressure on, say, European banks (eg the Swiss settlements for withholding taxes for US citizens). Given the scale of the fraud (ie $billions), I honestly expect him to spend the rest of his life in prison. It's that large and that egregious. Was it worth it? I'm curious to find out if Caroline Ellison was (or will be) a cooperating witness in this case as some speculated when she was spotted in a Starbucks recently in Lower Manhattan close to the SDNY office.
  • harambae 4y ago
    > I honestly expect him to spend the rest of his life in prison Yeah a lot of people are saying this and citing Madoff for comparison. I guess we'll all wait 2 years and see, but I doubt he's getting this kind of time. How similar can he make his story look to Nick Leeson's? He'll say he just got in over his head, tried to trade his way out of it, used funds he shouldn't have and lost in his gambles. Leeson got 6 1/2 and served 4. My prediction is SBF gets 11 and serves 7 or so.
    • BillyTheKing 4y ago
      Nick Leeson was prosecuted in Singapore though, very difficult to compare to that to the US. There's a good chance Nick Leeson would've gotten a harsher sentence was he charged by the Southern District of NY..
• funkyg 4y ago
  Nice to see one of the wealthy set getting their comeuppance. Rare, but satisfying.
• slimebot80 4y ago
  For all the struggles facing the democratic world, it's nice to know there is a stream of justice that prevails. In certain other large counties, this man would either be protected or jailed depending on what party he aligns to. Sure, you can say the same for USA, but with far less immediacy. Over time things tend to sort themselves out.
  • chewz 4y ago
  • lmm 4y ago
    Tell that to Assange.
    • 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
      Assange assisted with criminal activity. It would be cool to see it argued in court but somebody seems hell bent against examination.
      • justinzollars 4y ago
        He showed completely innocent Iraqis getting gunned down. Yup, criminal guy there.
        • rootusrootus 4y ago
          So the ends justify the means? That's what you want to run with?
          • justinzollars 4y ago
            He's a journalist.
            • 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
• outside1234 4y ago
  Well, thought this would take months to years, but happy to be wrong. Looking forward to the perp walk and orange jumper.
• Gigachad 4y ago
  Time to put all these frauds in jail and wrap up the crypto saga. Good practical demonstration why regulation and traditional finance work the way they do.
  • siftrics 4y ago
    He could not have stolen the deposits in the manner he did if this was on-chain and the users self-custodied. Yes, DEXs exist.
    • donatj 4y ago
      Exactly this. If anything it goes to prove why crypto - namely properly decentralized crypto - is important.
    • Gigachad 4y ago
      How do decentralized exchanges convert USD to crypto and back again? Especially given all the legal compliance requirements. This seems impossible without a central service / legal entity.
      • siftrics 4y ago
        This is a very good question. They cannot and do not. On/off-ramps are a huge topic and we have a lot of work to do to make these ramps as permissionless as possible, should we want to allow humans to decide for themselves whether or not to comply with (potentially) tyrannical governments.
    • cycomanic 4y ago
      If it wasn't for the goldrush enabled to large part by the exchanges cryptocurrencies would still be some technology used by some nerds in their basements to pay each other for pizza. Let's be real, almost nobody uses crypto as an actual payment method. It's all just get rich schemes too good to be true. So why you're correct in principle, it would be of no relevance if everyone self-custodied (also let's not ignore the bugs crypto contracts)
• 1-6 4y ago
  Conveniently before the congressional hearing.
• siftrics 4y ago
  Friendly reminder that he could not have stolen the deposits in the manner he did if this was on-chain and the users self-custodied. Yes, DEXs exist. Yes, you can self-custody on DEXs.
  • mrhands556 4y ago
    That’s equivalent to saying if a bank goes insolvent you should’ve had your money in a safe at home. For crypto yes you can have a hard wallet, but it can still be stolen from you without anyone physically touching your hard wallet. I don’t and won’t see the appeal for crypto until it has a killer app that people NEED to use for another reason than “I can get rich quick”
    • siftrics 4y ago
      Are you suggesting SBF would have physically stolen from millions of different human beings? How?
      • mrhands556 4y ago
        No but with these exchanges collapsing I keep seeing the argument that it people kept everything in a soft or hard wallet then everything would be OK. I disagree with that premise for the reasons prior. Also in the case of Luna and many others their coins are effectively worthless.
        • siftrics 4y ago
          Totally valid criticism about the coins potentially being worthless. I just want to stop the ignorant, misinformed takes. It's so paradoxical that HN is paranoid about the government changing settings on your phone without your permission, and yet HN does not think we should prevent the government or an opaque set of third parties from arbitrarily seizing and freezing your money.
    • siftrics 4y ago
      > that people NEED All the depositors have the extremely pressing NEED of not having all their deposits stolen from them. Blockchains mathematically prevent fraudulent misuse of deposits. People aren't mad about SBF taking a wrench to their head. They're mad about SBF defrauding them. Could not have happened on a blockchain.
• JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  SBF's public conduct over the past weeks, and alleged conduct over the past years, reinforces an image of unintelligence. Be it genuine stupidity, stimulants or both, he isn't top-of-the-doghouse material. (Granted, easy to say ex post facto.) The elephants in the room are Binance and Tether, together with certain high-profile investors. Taking some of these out could likely be worth a plea bargain. (For optics, he has to go to jail. But sending him to jail for a long time while letting the others go free for lack of evidence is a bad trade.)
  • Aperocky 4y ago
    He is intelligent enough to understand what he's doing and he's going to jail regardless of optics.
  • bb88 4y ago
    Anything less than 20 years will be a joke.
  • deleted 4y ago
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  • spookthesunset 4y ago
    I can’t wait until tether finally implodes. That will absolutely destroy the crypto market.
  • zadler 4y ago
    It’s a little bit innocent to think that SBF isn’t intelligent; he’s extremely adept at lying and manipulating. And on top of that, intelligent enough to create a large crypto exchange. It’s his morals and impulses that got him into trouble.
    • acdha 4y ago
      He’s the latest example of why many RPGs have separate stats for intelligence and wisdom. He’s clearly not stupid but his lawyers must be sitting at their desks sobbing “stop giving interviews!”
• whateveracct 4y ago
  But HN told me he wouldn't since he bought the politicians!
• greedo 4y ago
  Having "Wirefraud" as the name of your group chat on Signal is something that the prosecutors are going to love when proving intent...
  • intelVISA 4y ago
    Your honor, it was a VPN fuzzer...
  • jpeter 4y ago
    He will go with the "it was just a joke" defense
    • deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  • klyrs 4y ago
    Couldn't find a reference for that specifically, but, damn, girl. > me: how do I signal my genuinely sweet and feminine nature on my dating profile? should it go before or after the section on wire fraud https://caroline.milkyeggs.com/worldoptimization/index.html https://caroline.milkyeggs.com/worldoptimization/index.html
    • mkl 4y ago
      Date: 2018-04-01 01:00:31 GMT
  • dopamean 4y ago
    He didn't actually... did he?
  • imperialdrive 4y ago
    https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/ftx-s-inner-circle-had-a-secret-chat-group-called-wirefraud-20221213-p5c5sx https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/ftx-s-inner...
  • mayankkaizen 4y ago
• taf2 4y ago
  My first thought - “hell, it’s about time” see https://youtu.be/_J6-3l3hCm0 https://youtu.be/_J6-3l3hCm0
• deleted 4y ago
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• rkagerer 4y ago
  Hard to imagine the timing of the arrest being coincidence.
• Kye 4y ago
  From blockchain to chains and a cell block.
  • __turbobrew__ 4y ago
    Sam Bankrun Fraud Chained to the cell block
• kbash9 4y ago
  About time. Turns out Bahamas is not much of a safe haven.
  • glitchc 4y ago
    All country that have an extradition treaty with the US are not safe havens for any kind of federal (US) crime. That's the whole point of the treaty. Someone didn't do their homework, but given that someone is SBF, not particularly surprising.
• paxys 4y ago
  I found it funny that people wouldn't stop going "why is Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to jail while SBF roams free??". The Theranos fraud started in the early 2000s. The company imploded in ~2015. Holmes and Balwani were charged in 2018. They were finally tried and sentenced in late 2022. And the saga will likely continue with appeals. And all of this happened double quick as far as the justice system is concerned. The FTX saga has been going on for a few weeks now. Keep that popcorn away and wait.
  • deleted 4y ago
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• soheil 4y ago
  How does NYT feel about interviewing him literally not more than two weeks ago and trying to frame him as a super smart kid making a dumb mistake?
  • mistersquid 4y ago
    > How does NYT feel about interviewing him literally not more than two weeks ago and trying to frame him as a super smart kid making a dumb mistake? If you're referring to Andrew Ross Sorkin's interview of SBF, you're misreading the larger editorial framing of that interview. The editorial intent was to get SBF talking and present, in public, evidence of whatever he did or did not do. The motivation of that interview was not to provide a platform for his exculpation. Consider, for example, Fortune's analysis of that interview, which begins [0] > Where to begin? In a decade of covering crypto, I’ve seen a lot of > strange spectacles but nothing quite like Sam Bankman-Fried’s interview > at the New York Times DealBook Summit—a 45-minute display of delusion > and sociopathy in which the disgraced FTX founder whined, wheedled, and > did everything but acknowledge his responsibility for the financial > crime of the year. [0] https://fortune.com/crypto/2022/12/01/sam-bankman-frieds-big-interview-was-a-train-wreck-even-by-crypto-standards/ https://fortune.com/crypto/2022/12/01/sam-bankman-frieds-big...
    • soheil 4y ago
      As a journalist you ask tough questions and demands answers. Stop being a NYT apologist. Sorkin threw softballs at SBF again and again, accepted answers given without an iota of concern about the bold lies spewed back, profusely thanked SBF for being so generous with his time over and over again as if it's the NYT that somehow stole billions and tried to lie and get away with it.
• Kab1r 4y ago
  Odds on him getting bail?
• blululu 4y ago
  This post from ~4 days ago seems like it has been vindicated ahead of schedule: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33908577#33909017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33908577#33909017
• pigtailgirl 4y ago
  -- should be interesting - watched all of his interviews - if ftx usa is fully solvent and no mingling was done on the US accounts - and those trading on the other exchanges had a different TOS with clauses related to margin accounts - very curious to see what happens - very small chance he wiggles off the hook - maybe? --
  • ericpauley 4y ago
    These were all lies, per Ray's house testimony [1]. FTX US had no sound financial controls keeping it isolated from the rest of FTX. [1] https://docs.house.gov/meetings/BA/BA00/20221213/115246/HHRG-117-BA00-Wstate-RayJ-20221213.pdf https://docs.house.gov/meetings/BA/BA00/20221213/115246/HHRG...
    • pigtailgirl 4y ago
      -- my reading of this is only that the business empire as a whole was poorly managed - ftx.us was included in the ftx.com bankruptcy to avoid a run on the bank - if they were trying to avoid a run on the bank - wouldn't it further indicate the ftx.us platform indeed had funds? - most of this document is concerned with ftx.com not ftx.us --
      • ericpauley 4y ago
        From the article: > FTX US was not operated independently of FTX.com.
        • pigtailgirl 4y ago
          -- yes - same management team - operated both - but that's as much as we know for certain so far - guess we will see - that why im so curious - lot of talk here in Korea that Do Kwon wont go to jail even if they arrest him --
• aaronbrethorst 4y ago
  My only regret about this is that we won’t be treated to an absolutely bonkers House committee hearing with Sam this week.
  • hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
    I still think it will be pretty bonkers. Someone else posted FTX's restructuring CEO's opening statement for tomorrow morning, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33962193 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33962193. With comments like the one below, I'm interested to see how many bombshells are dropped: > Nearly all of these situations share common characteristics, ranging from gross mismanagement, excessive leverage, failures of internal controls, failures of external checks as a result of audit firm failures, or insufficient board governance. But never in my career have I seen such an utter failure of corporate controls at every level of an organization, from the lack of financial statements to a complete failure of any internal controls or governance whatsoever."\
    • aaronbrethorst 4y ago
      That opening statement is remarkable. Thanks for sharing the link.
• bogomipz 4y ago
  Interesting timing, he was supposed to testify tomorrow before the House, albeit remotely. My understanding was that there were two scheduled hearings, one for the Senate the House, today and tomorrow respectively. You would think the DOJ and congress might communicate on such matters. Why wouldn't the DOJ have waited a couple more days? Flight risk?
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• siftrics 4y ago
  Say it with me: Blockchains mathematically prevent fraudulent misuse of deposits Yes, on/off ramps are an issue. Yes, blockchains do not prevent physical threats of violence or profound custodial negligence. No, SBF would not have been able to defraud millions of depositors on a blockchain where everyone self-custodied.
  • lvl102 4y ago
    Say it with me: Blockchains never had a chance. It was designed to be a ponzi from the start. If you took it as something more than that then the joke is on you.
    • siftrics 4y ago
      Tell me specifically what is false about this statement: Blockchains mathematically prevent fraudulent misuse of deposits
    • dang 4y ago
      Please don't start this hellish, repetitive flamewar up again. The ongoing SBF hellthread is bad enough as it is. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=generic%20ideolog%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...
  • TheDong 4y ago
    > Blockchains mathematically prevent fraudulent misuse of deposits > SBF would not have been able to defraud millions of depositors on a blockchain where everyone self-custodied. Does the TerraUSD count? People self-custodied, but the blockchain was built in such a way that it went to 0 easily enough. Was that profound custodial negligence? It seems like blockchains that fail in such a way are a dime a dozen, and the end result doesn't seem vastly different from "$company running $TKN has gained a lot of money, and all the holders self-custodying $TKN have lost practically all their money even though $company assured them $TKN was safe". Is that any different in a useful way from "FTX has gained a lot of money, and all its customers have lost practically all their money which the company assured them was safe"? Practically every crypto "pump and dump" follows this scheme of a custom token ('blockchain' if you will), a company saying it's not a pump and dump, and users self-custodying right until they lose all their money. Perhaps blockchains prevent "fraudulent misuse of deposits", but enable "users exchange money for $TKN, which is definitely 100% worth something, and then it isn't", which really seems quite similar to me.
• boplicity 4y ago
  .
  • tempsy 4y ago
    If I invest in something that ends up being a fraud I should not just lose my investment but face criminal liability? What
    • deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  • highwayman47 4y ago
    Lol, he knew exactly what he was doing. And the investors were just FOMO’ing into it.
  • nailer 4y ago
    > He was clearly naive and not capable of understanding and implementing the full legal requirements of his business. Why? Why was SBF naive versus knowing and not caring? He is an intelligent man.
  • andrewvc 4y ago
    How do you know that he wasn’t capable of understanding those requirements? It seems just as possible that he consciously chose to ignore prudence in favor of easy profits. In fact, it seems that he completely did understand the importance of things like separating customer funds between businesses given that FTX claimed to have rigorous procedures around this prior to their collapse. From the outside, it appears that he is trying to save his skin by pleading ignorance.
• moralestapia 4y ago
  "Please arrest me so I don't have to testify at the US House hearing tomorrow" Smart-ish move, tbh.
• gautamcgoel 4y ago
  This case will test whether the US is a country where bad deeds have bad consequences. Over the past decade I have become increasingly skeptical that our society is able to hold the wealthy and well-connected to account, but perhaps this case will prove me wrong.
  • kibwen 4y ago
    You'll be happy to hear that the US holds wealthy people to account all the time. You'll be sad to hear that that's only true when their victims are other wealthy people.
• gjvc 4y ago
  Surprising amount of support for him in some of these comments.
• Octokiddie 4y ago
  This article has some context, including this part about possible penalties if found guilty: > Legal experts told CNBC that if the federal government pursues wire or bank fraud charges, Bankman-Fried could face life in prison without the possibility of supervised release. Such a severe punishment would be unusual but not extraordinary. Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, an effective life sentence, for his massive ponzi scheme. ... https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/12/ftx-founder-sam-bankman-fried-arrested-in-the-bahamas-after-us-files-criminal-charges.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/12/ftx-founder-sam-bankman-frie...
  • rootusrootus 4y ago
    Madoff got a long sentence, but lets not forget that 'legal experts' were predicting a pretty long sentence for Elizabeth Holmes, too, based on federal formulas. It's optimistic at this early stage to legitimately expect SBF to get life behind bars.
    • mikeyouse 4y ago
      Holmes got 11 years in Federal prison for her first offense for financial crimes.. that is a long sentence. SBF obviously won’t get life behind bars, nor should he.
      • dopamean 4y ago
        Yes 11 years is a long time to be imprisoned however I think it was in the low end of what she could have gotten which is why people say she didn't get a long sentence.
        • mikeyouse 4y ago
          It wasn’t at the low end whatsoever, it was perfectly in line with the sentencing guidelines for the charges she was accused and convicted of. Federal sentencing is actually really easy to predict. You can almost always ignore the proclamations of “could be 130 years” since those are often only for serious repeat offenders and tons of sentencing enhancements. Skip down to the process part of this post: https://prisonprofessors.com/calculating-holmes-prison-sentence-part-1/ https://prisonprofessors.com/calculating-holmes-prison-sente... Once we know what SBF is going to be charged with, we’ll know what his eventual sentencing range will be if he’s convicted. For all of the conspiracy theorizing and dramatics, it boils down to a very boring sentencing chart.
• samhuk 4y ago
  Honestly, one of my concerns is that a figure like SBF has one similarity with Jeffrey Epstein - both was/are highly connected individuals. I fear waking up one day to the sudden reveal of SBF's "long hidden battle with depression", before a strange last-minute relocation, then another strange event, then... My gut feeling is that SBF won't rat-out any corruption that goes way up to the stratosphere of US politics, and instead will try to go for a deal, perhaps even help with investigations into Binance etc., however my concern is another time where we don't get true justice (the facts become public knowledge, fair trial, etc.). Next few weeks and months are going to be interesting, I think. EDIT: Some downvotes, so just wanted to elaborate: Nowhere did I say that the alleged criminal acts of SBF of JE are "comparable". To say that is an extremely gross and unfathomable misunderstanding of what I was saying. I am comparing their involvement with politics and political figures (unequivocally), and noting how both have either alleged or proven to have been involved in illegal activity. I feel like it's a pretty important and note-worthy point to make, but YMMV. However, I understand that my wording could have made that more clear for everyone. I apologise for that. Sorry.
  • xxpor 4y ago
    As much as I think cryptocoins are stupid, to compare a literal child rapist and someone who ran a crypto exchange (even fraudulently) is completely beyond the pale.
    • samhuk 4y ago
      See edit. TL;DR: Nowhere did I say that the alleged criminal acts of SBF of JE are "comparable". To say that is an extremely gross and unfathomable misunderstanding of what I was saying. I'm not sure why you would do that, to be very honest with you.
      • xxpor 4y ago
        You did compare them. But the reason Jeffery Epstein was powerful was because of the rich people who were on his plane/participating in his activities. AFAIK he wasn't a huge political donor. SBF was just throwing money around, which tons of people do. For better or (mostly) worse, donations to PACs and campaigns are entirely legal and not corrupt (well, assuming you got the money legally in the first place)
• smcl 4y ago
  Dog bites man
• qwertyuiop_ 4y ago
  Also the enforcers are compromised including SEC chairman Gary Gensler https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/sec-chairman-gary-gensler-met-with-head-ftx-months-before-collapse https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/sec-chairman-gary-gensle... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11438875/Questions-SEC-chair-Gary-Gensler-agency-miss-signs-FTX-collapse.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11438875/Questions-... https://moguldom.com/427483/is-sec-chair-gary-gensler-compromised-by-sbf-and-the-unholy-alameda-ftx-alliance/ https://moguldom.com/427483/is-sec-chair-gary-gensler-compro...
  • deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
• woeirua 4y ago
  This is good for Crypto. Seriously. Because SBF is probably going to help the US make their case against Binance and that will flush out all the bad actors. Many coins will go to zero. The entire ecosystem will wither and die, but if Crypto survives it will be because there is some fundamental value to it besides digital beanie babies.
  • Sebguer 4y ago
    But, it doesn't, so it'll die! Which is the best possible outcome.
    • siftrics 4y ago
      • polygamous_bat 4y ago
        [flagged]
        • siftrics 4y ago
          How does self-custody hand control to someone else?
          • polygamous_bat 4y ago
            Someone else is still controlling the network updates and the "tokenomics", or even hard forks! See Ethereum DAO hack hard fork, for example: https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/the-dao-hack-makerdao https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/the-dao-hack-makerdao
            • siftrics 4y ago
              There's no mathematical law that blockchains will survive forever or hard forks will retain the worth of the token. I never argued for that and I'm not arguing that that is the case.
• Animats 4y ago
  He may never see the world outside of a jail again. Most white-collar criminals are released on bail. But after extradition, it's different.[1] "The Bail Reform Act ... and the attendant presumption in favor of bail for persons facing trial, apply only to criminal defendants and are inapplicable to fugitives facing extradition proceedings. Because of the potential harm to the country's international relations that could result from flight, there is a presumption against bail in international extradition cases" This is a downside of operating offshore to try to evade regulation. [1] https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-618-bail-hearing https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual...
  • sheepscreek 4y ago
    He is not a fugitive. There was no warrant out for his arrest until now.
    • CaliforniaKarl 4y ago
      Those are, I think, unrelated sentences. "fugitive" assumes he is/was 'running from the law', which I don't believe he is/was. > There was no warrant out for his arrest until now. I think there was, if not in the United States then in the Bahamas. From https://www.wsj.com/articles/ftx-founder-samuel-bankman-fried-arrested-in-bahamas-11670890250 https://www.wsj.com/articles/ftx-founder-samuel-bankman-frie...: > FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested in the Bahamas after the U.S. filed criminal charges that it expects to unseal Tuesday morning, the authorities in the two countries said Monday evening.
  • idontpost 4y ago
    Sounds like that clause applies pre-extradition, not post.
  • FiloSottile 4y ago
    That’s about fugitives being extradited from the U.S. Hence the mention of international relations.
  • deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
• guender 4y ago
• kelnos 4y ago
  I remember reading here (on a previous article about FTX) a comment that said SBF had friends in the Bahamian government, or something like that, so no way he'd get extradited to the US. I found that... pretty funny... at the time, and seems like I was right. Why would the Bahamian government risk their relations with the US over someone like SBF? Kinda absurd...
  • sparkleyshoddey 4y ago
    In addition, the type of “friends” he had in the government don’t stick around once you stop being worth a billion dollars.
  • hackerlight 4y ago
    The conspiracy theorists and professional cynics have been out in force. The reality of the situation is, SBF is so widely despised by the voting public that an example of him must be made, and any supposed power that SBF had through his political giving and connections was not close to enough.
    • SilverBirch 4y ago
      What is Crypto if it's not a business entirely driven by cynicism and conspiracy. It was literally born from the 2007-8 financial crisis. Everyone is viewing this in the context of no one facing any consequences for that.
      • hackerlight 4y ago
        The FTX situation wasn't directly related to crypto from a legal standpoint. It was old school embezzlement of customer property where old school laws apply.
• dougSF70 4y ago
  In the absence of consumer protections in crypto it seems the authorities want a high profile trial to send a warning to others and to would be crypto "investors".
• mr90210 4y ago
  He will walk free!
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• deleted 4y ago
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• passerby1 4y ago
  Why only now?
• holysantamaria 4y ago
  He's fried.
• jusonchan81 4y ago
  So now I’m wondering who else will SBF take down with him. There is a pretty good chance he has knowledge of similar situations in Binance or Tether. This should be an interesting trial.
  • TacticalCoder 4y ago
    > I haven’t seen any evidence Alameda itself committed any crime Three very rich crypto millionaires (or billionaires?) have died mysteriously in the past weeks. One, 30 years old, in his sleep. One in a helicopter which blew (not far from where I live) after a mysterious passenger cancelled his flight at the last minute. And another one who drowned (after having tweeted that "they" were after him). If SBF has dirt on people, I think there's a very real possibility he got the message clear.
    • mef 4y ago
      who?
      • deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      • mhalberstram 4y ago
        The last one is Nikolai Mushegian, he was found drowned shortly after tweeting this: https://twitter.com/delete_shitcoin/status/1585918718088970241 https://twitter.com/delete_shitcoin/status/15859187180889702...
    • therealdrag0 4y ago
      Source?
• coding123 4y ago
  I find it interesting that this legal letter used the initials SBF.
• praveenhm 4y ago
  It is a good first move to arrest SBF, but nothing will happen if the rest of the team has already left the Bahamas or gone untraceable.
  • rootusrootus 4y ago
    Going untraceable is the stuff of novels. Pulling that off in the real world is almost certainly well beyond the abilities of any of these individuals.
• yalogin 4y ago
  I wonder if this is because he is incorporated in the Bahamas. May be in the US it would have taken for ever or may be never. Bahamas probably had a reputation to uphold and so arrested him. I mean, moved fast and arrested him.
  • qeternity 4y ago
    Not sure if satire…but they arrested him due to a pending extradition request by the US.
• blobbers 4y ago
  About time. Ellison needs to go down with him. She's complicit as much as he is.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• 0x8FF 4y ago
  lets goooo
• mancerayder 4y ago
  His parents are law professors, themselves with hundreds of millions they must have gained from their son's activities. We know that they have at least 10s of millions of dollars in real estate to their names. The probabilty that it's hubris, stupidity or privilege (all suggested in these comments) causing these interviews is less close to 1 than the probability it's a tactic to portray himself as a distracted lunatic with no notion of what happened under his watch.
  • deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  • stingraycharles 4y ago
    It’s probably another case of Hanlon’s razor, “don’t attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”.
    • mancerayder 4y ago
      I think that's the impression intended to be given in the hopes of having a chance to fight the case.
      • dundarious 4y ago
        Agreed, to me even a term like "negligence" seems to lean too far into accepting it all as mere "mistakes". They way he talks about it in interviews, he makes it sound like he was a child operating a handgun, and while he doesn't remember how it all went down, he's very sorry bad things happened.
    • throwoutway 4y ago
      Malice + stupidity would answer this one.
  • jonny_eh 4y ago
    > hubris, stupidity or privilege Narcissism, there's a lot of that going around these days.
• abhiminator 4y ago
  Can't wait for the trial now.
• greenyoda 4y ago
  Some news on what he's being charged with: > Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said on Twitter that the federal government anticipated moving to “unseal the indictment in the morning.” The charges include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering, according to the New York Times, citing a person familiar with the matter. > Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission has initiated a separate set of charges against Bankman-Fried, relating to “violations of our securities laws, which will be filed publicly tomorrow in the Southern District of New York,” enforcement director Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/12/ftx-founder-sam-bankman-fried-arrested-in-the-bahamas-after-us-files-criminal-charges.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/12/ftx-founder-sam-bankman-frie...
• eshack94 4y ago
  I did not expect charges to be formally brought against him this soon. The AG must be confident that they have enough to win a case. That was quick.
• 1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
  The timing of this is interesting, on the eve of SBF testifying before Congress.
  • 1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
    "The arrest came as Bankman-Fried prepared to lash out at his former lawyers at Sullivan and Cromwell, new FTX CEO John Ray and rival exchange operator Binance at a U.S. Congressional hearing. In the testimony, a draft copy of which was seen by Reuters, Bankman-Fried planned to say he was pressured by Sullivan and Cromwell lawyers to nominate Ray as CEO following the sudden exodus of customer funds. And when within minutes he changed his mind, following an offer of billions of dollars of fresh funding, he was told it was too late. It is unclear, however, whether Bankman-Fried will get to testify." https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ftx-bankman-fried-arrested-bahamas-1.6683507 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ftx-bankman-fried-arrested-... https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2022/12/13/exclusive-transcript-the-full-testimony-sbf-planned-to-give-to-congress/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2022/12/13/exclus... To read the transcript as a PDF: tnftp -4o 1.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/639819b415bec55a96620eb9/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-20-27-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 2.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/639819e42bbb1840c441c2ff/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-21-12-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 3.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981a13e6a605088a620eb9/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-21-48-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 4.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981a3e97e6059cf941c2ff/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-22-42-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 5.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981a8397e6059cf941c301/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-23-29-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 6.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981aa0886e5238e97ab5df/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-24-23-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 7.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981ac007c4294fe17ab5dd/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-24-54-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 8.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981ade198bc35812620eb9/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-25-23-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 9.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981b0d886e5238e97ab5e1/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-25-52-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 10.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981b2b224fd6b8de681fd4/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-26-39-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 11.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981b4c4d894e06ad41c2ff/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-27-14-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 12.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981b6a4d894e06ad41c301/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-27-42-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 13.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981b92a9c727db8c620eb9/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-28-18-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 14.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981bb9a9c727db8c620ebb/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-28-56-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 15.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981bda4d894e06ad41c303/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-29-32-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 16.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981bfbb439524ded7ab5dd/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-30-02-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 17.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981c1f6fcdf9b2593650c1/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-30-37-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' tnftp -4o 18.jpg 'https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63981c42df27c8ef7841c2ff/Screenshot-2022-12-13-at-1-31-13-AM/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960' gm convert [1-9]*.jpg 1.pdf rm [1-9]*.jpg firefox ./1.pdf
• phendrenad2 4y ago
  Since everyone is making predictions, here's mine: He'll get a slap on the wrist, do some community service, and be free to go on a lecture circuit at state colleges across the land, donating some of his second wealth to charities of his design and choosing, in an act of humble penance that will sway the hearts of the people.
  • smabie 4y ago
    Extremely unlikely: I think % chance of him going to prison is close to 100%
• arkis22 4y ago
  everyone enjoy your Stanford or elite school education!
• tibbydudeza 4y ago
  Did he not sell his crypto in the Bahamas as well ?. The old adage of don't shit where you sleep or eat.
• tibbydudeza 4y ago
  Now for the rest of the cronies and hangers on.
• bkartal 4y ago
  bankman to jailman. It was a nice ride!
• iancmceachern 4y ago
  It's not even as if he was good at it, the scamming. It's like a three stooges, slapstick approach to financial fraud. He went to MIT for God's sake, he could have done something positive and meaningful with his life but instead chose this. So much opportunity cost lost here, we could have built a few bridges and rail lines, done real work with the money he burned.
  • deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  • HPMOR 4y ago
    Money is literally just a number, a fiction. What we must mourn is the expenditure of time of brilliant engineers and people, that wasted their productive years on this foray. However, humans waste tons of time... even the most intelligent among us. I would not say this is a tragedy of great sorts, and for a guy who was working at Jane Street, I don't think SBF would see this as an opportunity cost... it's more like he played the game and lost. Lost badly.
    • iancmceachern 4y ago
      Agreed. I've worked on two multiple year projects with hundreds to thousands of engineers working on each, only to have them thrown in the garbage. It's highly depressing how many person hours of some of the highest educated and valuable skillsets we have are just thrown away.
    • ratg13 4y ago
      This is just a repeat of financial scams that existed a hundred years ago, now it’s just being done with digital money. Not learning from the mistakes the first time and allowing history to repeat itself for no reason is the tragedy, IMHO
  • LoveMortuus 4y ago
    I'm not for the US. Does being from MIT actually mean anything? In my country we don't really have a university that people would great about or that would how any special status, at least not that I would know of.
• Exendroinient00 4y ago
  SDNY isn't to take lightly. Likely 25+ sentence.
• mfbx9da4 4y ago
  Hopefully all his fellow colluders will also go to jail. He didn't do this single handedly.
• 2T1Qka0rEiPr 4y ago
  As an aside, isn't it a little weird for a legal document such as this to use his initials over something more formal like "Mr Bankman-Fried"?
  • SilverBirch 4y ago
    It's not a legal document, it's a press release. There will be legal documents involved in the arrest but we're unlikely to see them.
    • 2T1Qka0rEiPr 4y ago
      OK sorry bad terminology. Nonetheless from a legal authority. The SEC's press release (https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-219 https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-219) is much more in keeping with what I would expect.
• SilverBirch 4y ago
  I see a lot of people saying that they think he'll get off or get a slap on the wrist. But I think that misunderstands what happened here. SBF perpetrated a massive fraud for years. In order to put him in jail prosecutors don't need to prove that. All they need to do is identify a small handful of actions that count as wire fraud and prove those cases. The saying is "Don't break the law while you're breaking the law"- there is simply no way that SBF was competent enough to actually carry all this business on without fucking up enough to incriminate himself, and now every single dollar that he transacted in this last 5 years will be under a fine tooth comb. To say SBF won't face jail isn't to say he's going to get away with his massive fraud, it's to say he'll also get away with every tiny fraud he committed along the way, and there's just no chance that's the case.
• fredgrott 4y ago
  Given some of the details such as: 1.No accounting department or compliance staffs at both FTX and Alameda 2.$6billion spent and yet FTX and Alameda combined never made over $2billion in total revenue. Someone obviously become an informant, probably CE given her 2018 comment about wire fraud. Just think about this, all the influencers that got paid have to now give that $1billion back as it was proceeds of fraud conveyed. So those who lost money will get 1/8th of their money back eventually.
• qwerty456127 4y ago
  What are people like him risking their freedom for? Who is the beneficiary? Where has the actual money gone?
• lr1970 4y ago
  Timing of his arrest is a bit suspicious. Tomorrow SBF is supposed to testify before Congress [0] and his arrest by Bahamian authorities is a perfect way to make sure that the testimony will not happen. Coincidence...? [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33957542 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33957542
  • spdustin 4y ago
    Or, the call for congressional testimony made sure they knew where he was. Or even more likely: the committee had no idea what the executive was doing.
• edwinjm 4y ago
  I see a new song coming: Bahamian Rhapsody "Mamaaa, life had just begun, But now I've gone and thrown it all away"