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‘Sam? Are you there? ’ The bizarre and brutal final hours of FTX
- srge 4y agohttps://archive.ph/GpKDE https://archive.ph/GpKDE
- Waterluvian 4y agoWow. A story of children running a crypto fantasy and the adults who worked for them, desperately trying to stay out of prison. Amazing what happens when reality ablates the layers of fictitious superiority and genius, and you’ve got lawyers on many continents banging on your door, trying to entice you with soft words to make the only obvious remaining move. > “Bankman-Fried privately fumed about what he considered “the adults’” broken promises, namely, to consult on fundraising efforts and the appointment of directors. Over email, Bankman-Fried appealed to Ray for a role in the company’s unwinding.” Amazing. He didn’t even realize the adults were just trying to get the gun out of his hands and that there was no way in hell anyone would let him near anything after they had it. The one thing that stands out to me, that makes him unlike his contemporaries, is that he seems to be capable of empathy and understanding for those who abandoned FTX and why the thing went the way it did. He has that “maybe I’m the one who is wrong?” moment that others seem to be incapable of. I’m not suggesting I think he’s innocent, but he seems more like an idiot than a sociopathic fraud.
- windthrown 4y agoThis man is 30 years old and committed fraud on a global scale with open eyes. Please stop calling these company executives "children", distinct from "adults" even if that's how they try to downplay ther own culpability.
- Waterluvian 4y agoThat’s not what people mean or intend when they call them children. They’re referring to how he has no idea what he’s doing and isn’t making adult decisions. Indeed, he seems very culpable. He should be treated and prosecuted as an adult. But he is very childish in his actions and behaviour.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- lazide 4y agoI think they're pointing out, that doesn't mean he doesn't know what he is doing. Just that he LOOKED like he didn't. As an adult, especially with his background, it's hard to believe he doesn't actually know.
- Waterluvian 4y agoThe courts will suss that out. They are quite indifferent to this kind of thing. The Law of Goats applies to the rest: whether you know better or not, you’re still making absolutely boneheaded choices.
- this_steve_j 4y agoSBF is the original author of the “adults” vs “children” narrative, according to the article. It’s an incredibly savvy legal strategy and PR move on his part, because if these are just “incompetent kids” then maybe a jury will believe SBF isn’t actually a dangerous sociopath who was caught stuffing billions of dollars into his pockets. His parents are abetting this pathetic defense and uncritical journalists are amplifying it with puff pieces like this article.
- LatteLazy 4y agoSBF has 2 options: 1: Admit to himself that he was incompetent, stupid and greedy. Admit he wasted a huge opportunity. Admit he may well spend the rest of his life in jail. Admit others tried to stop/warn him and he ignored them. Accept that the buck ultimately stops with him. Accept that almost everyone now has to testify against him. 2: Keep pretending nothing happened and everything was overblown and pretend people will eventually realise this despite all evidence and logic. I see a surprising number of people pick option 2 in this case. And it often works: people get bailed out. Everyone loves an underdog. I don't think it will happen for SBF. But it's a weird mix of flawed and brazen logic and group and individual Psychology and politics...
- Pet_Ant 4y agoThe fact that a person can spend a life in jail without having physically hurt another person is grotesque, though his case is obviously not the most egregious.
- Waterluvian 4y agoEnh… I don’t think I agree. Financial fraud can do serious harm. I’m also not sure why there’s a sense that the crime has to be violent to deserve such a sentence. Imagine if I methodically went house to house, ensuring everyone was safely out of it, and then liquidated the house until there was naught but a hole. And I did that thousands and thousands of times.
- LatteLazy 4y ago
- bmitc 4y ago> you’ve got lawyers on many continents banging on your door, trying to entice you with soft words to make the only obvious remaining move. I was somewhat surprised with what seemed to be the lawyers trying to persistently but sweetly beg him to sign the papers. I would have imagined the lawyers using much stronger words, nearing profanity-laced commands, but they seemed like a parent begging a child to eat their supper or put on their coat before going outside.
- pg_1234 4y agoIt's an act, the "I'm really just a child" defense. Hopefully it won't work.
- effingwewt 4y agoTo me, the crazy part was at the end where ge mentioned everyone else collectively losing their minds and acting bad/different. Like he didn't even consider he might be the oddball. How did no one sniff out the narcissism, or does it get passed off as some kind of savant syndrome?
- jononomo 4y ago[flagged]
- bmitc 4y agoThis was a fantastic look into the on the ground proceedings of FTX's crumbling, something that I have been curious about, as I wondered just how these things occurred (who initiated what) in a timeline fashion. I chuckled at John Ray III just straight up ghosting Sam Bankman-Fried. It is clear that Bankman-Fried is just off his rocker, potentially partially due to the habitual abuse of drugs, but it's also probably because of his elitist upbringing coupled with narcissism. While this article is about the end days, I still see almost no publications addressing Sam Trabucco, who suspiciously left Alameda before all this blew up (I suppose it was blowing up internally already). I get the feeling that some of Bankman-Fried's close circle knew what was going on while others just got railroaded by him and were just plain incompetent versus fraudulent and incompetent. This is an interesting look into just how pervasive the "fail fast and fail until you make it" mode of operation has infiltrated startup culture. While of course not every startup is committing fraud and FTX is a particularly striking example, I do think that it's an internal look into just how incompetent a lot of startups might be.
- zhi086 4y agoThis is exactly what Satoshi Nakamoto had envisioned.
- TAKEMYMONEY 4y agoThey envisioned permissionless transactions on a decentralized blockchain, not a world free of corruption and bad actors. Please post "this is good for Bitcoin" or another tired joke instead, much more concise.
- bitxbitxbitcoin 4y agoIt isn’t and to claim so is “childish.”
- freejazz 4y agoIt's "childish" to not get this joke
- bitxbitxbitcoin 4y agoIf a joke is the most charitable reading of a comment then does it belong on HN? Serious question.
- freejazz 4y agoGo be miserable and humorless, see if I care.
- TAKEMYMONEY 4y agoOk let's see...yes it appears you care. As you said, "You act like if you walked the streets of NY after 9/11, making jokes about it, people would be cheering you on... I have a feeling the situation would be quite different" How "miserable and humorless" you must be, right?
- 4y ago
- alephxyz 4y agoCan you imagine if Bernie Madoff had told the attorney general that he just needed a few more weeks to find new investors in order to make his customers whole. SBF comes off as an extremely naive and sheltered kid who doesn't understand that committing fraud is still fraud even if you have good intentions.
- SilasX 4y agoSimilarly, can you imagine the media not objecting to Madoff using euphemisms like SBF does, e.g. how he "just needs liquidity" or just needs some support for his "capital position"?
- Dooflegna 4y agoThis is fascinating and sad.