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They're going to study SBF in law school some day. In the same way a computer science professor would emphasize automated testing to catch edge cases, a legal p
by primitivesuave 3y ago
They're going to study SBF in law school some day. In the same way a computer science professor would emphasize automated testing to catch edge cases, a legal professor will emphasize that no matter how intelligent and well-connected your client seems, they may still be suffering from "edge case" delusional behavior that destroys their case.
This is the same guy who dialed into tech conferences and made provably false statements after the public collapse of FTX and after his parents (both law professors) had retained counsel. And yet, nobody thought to explain to him how easily he might get caught up on witness tampering and obstruction of justice charges if he continued making public statements.
- mataug 3y agoSomeone may have explained to him that this was witness tampering, but as my mother likes to say “went into one ear came out the other” for SBF. He’s rarely faced consequences for his actions until now.
- jjoonathan 3y agoYeah. On his PR tour he repeatedly made public statements that will negatively impact his defense; there's no way his council didn't try to shut that down. SBF isn't listening to his lawyers.
- cdchn 3y agoMuch like anybody who tries to 'explain things' to the cops he thought he could talk his way out of it, or into a better position.
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- akira2501 3y agoThere are plenty of better examples. Sam is essentially just a common crook. He put his hand in his own companies cookie jar. This idea that he's going to "be studied" just plays into his own paid for media created mythos. This is the same guy who tried to make "effective altruism" part of his image. That was a pretty strong signal that the outcome we all witnessed was highly likely.
- soneca 3y agoI don’t think the intriguing part of SBF is the crime he committed, which is a pretty common one. For me, it is how he, after getting caught, hurts his own case being proactive in doing and saying stuff publicly. The common type of white collar criminal remains in silence and follow orientations from their very well paid lawyers. And it is a pretty proven strategy that leads to minimal or no relevant punishment. If SBF was a common criminal in this sense, he possibly could leave all of this judged not guilty by the justice.
- landoftheice 3y ago[dead]
- pydry 3y agoHe reminds me of a few people Ive known who have a kind of "it'll all work out in the end" syndrome. All very privileged and sheltered.
- crtified 3y agoEven in jail, he'll be 'a rich guy in jail', able to buy all the favours and protection that can be bought in such a place. I probably won't attract many friends by separately pointing out that "it'll all work out in the end" was also the primary investment strategy of virtually every crypto "investor" who lost money, but that's another matter...
- civilitty 3y agoIANAL but it seems all this stupidity may cost him what really matters: he may lose any chance of minimum security prison. That’s the real prize if prison time is all but guaranteed. He could still get a decade in ClubFed with work release which… while obviously not great, is a hell of a lot better than living under guard in a low or medium security prison.
- I_am_uncreative 3y ago
- rgbrenner 3y agono matter how ... well-connected your client seems Is SBF connected at all anymore? At this point, everyone knows he's a fraud (at least in the court of public opinion). There's no money to be gained by helping him; associations to him are toxic; favors are unlikely to ever be repaid. He may have used some of the money he scammed for donations to curry favor, but that only works up until the scam falls apart. What sort of connections are you thinking of?
- jddj 3y agoThe "old money" entrenched nepotism that typically outlasts the short attention span of the people watching the circus
- CryptoBanker 3y agoSBF is literally the opposite of old money
- samstave 3y agoHes referring to the Old Money connections that SBF bribed with hundreds of millions to finance their political grift... er I mean "donations"
- pseingatl 3y ago"Everyone" is still buying crypto.
- soerxpso 3y agoOne way or another the NYT was still willing to print a story about the leaked writings for him. It's been well-known that he has connections there.
- primitivesuave 3y agoI was referring to the general notion of someone who can satisfy exorbitant bail requirements and has two law professors for parents - legal counsel in such a case may mistakenly assume that their client is sophisticated enough to avoid obvious mistakes.
- CobrastanJorji 3y agoDialing into tech conferences and lying his ass off wasn't necessary the wrong strategy. SBF's goal at the time wasn't "avoid jail;" it was "bail out company and course correct." He wanted to acquire a lot of large investors to save his company, and a lie-filled PR campaign was probably the best bet he had to do it. The estimated value of (tiny chance) * (stay a billionaire) versus the estimated value of (smallish chance) * (avoid prison) might have looked like a pretty good call to him. Or, more likely, his life as he knew it was under threat and he was panicking by following the same script that always worked for him before. But it wasn't NECESSARILY the wrong call.
- renegade-otter 3y agoHe was lying his ass off on conference calls while playing RPG games.
- primitivesuave 3y agoI see your point, but would more categorize his actions as a "messiah complex" belief in his own invincibility, reinforced by years of experience running the FTX charade. I doubt he was ever rationally examining the odds of pulling it off.
- joshbetz 3y agoHe is certainly well connected, but what evidence do we have that he’s intelligent?
- ecshafer 3y agoMIT grad that worked at Jane Street and made a Billion dollar “tech” company are things a lot of people would use as evidence of being intelligent.
- brvsft 3y agoBuilding a company based on fraud is potentially more of a marker of ruthlessness over intelligence, but certainly we don't know with certainty, and it is likely a combination of the two.
- ecshafer 3y agoI would agree. He was definitely connected, and definitely smart. Anyone would drive in such a position could make a successful company. But he was ruthless and also has no moral compass, so he became a crypto fraudster.
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- ivalm 3y agopassed quant interview at jane street.
- wnc3141 3y agoIntelligence is unrelated to integrity, at least by common wisdom. A common Warren Buffet quote passed around : "We look for three things when we hire people. We look for intelligence, we look for initiative or energy, and we look for integrity. And if they don't have the latter, the first two will kill you, because if you're going to get someone without integrity, you want them lazy and dumb"
- kyleyeats 3y agoSam and Liz (Yay rebranding!) are both good at one thing: Playing the part people want to see played and telling people what they want to hear. In other words: It's not their delusion at all. You shouldn't expect them to be good at anything else. They aren't good at anything else.
- version_five 3y agoThere are some criminals that are genuinely delusional and think they are right and just need to explain more - could some element of that be present here. I know I've seen good examples of that kind of behavior, where people behave ridiculously because they're blinded by thinking they're kn the right, but I'm struggling a bit to come up with one. Skilling maybe?
- harry8 3y agoNo way. Playing by the book it's an easy, open and shut case that he loses very badly badly. No other conceivable outcome that way. His only option is to throw the book out and create as much chaos as possible so prosecutors are faced with the unusual and novel and make mistakes his team can capitalise on. It's a long shot, sure. He's got nothing else. This lunacy is all 100% rational behaviour on his part.
- LordShredda 3y agoMaybe, but the most probable event here is a kid with too much money and fame
- harry8 3y agoDisagree. Amoral trader, who always acted like an amoral trader, continues to act like an amoral trader. He's always been calculating and clever. You did see this, right? https://unusualwhales.com/politics/article/senate_ftx https://unusualwhales.com/politics/article/senate_ftx Washington corruption is rampant and at an all time peak, both R&D, to be sure but he's got to give them some kind of smoke screen by making a really simple thing like his being a thief "complicated." The guy knows where the bodies are, he has some leverage. Probably not nearly enough but we'll see.
- DanHulton 3y ago...or he ends up with a bunch of fresh new charges in addition to all the existing ones, some being of the very exciting felony class. I don't see how that's very rational at all.
- harry8 3y agoHe's going to jail for many years, this is really unlikely to increase that duration to parole or change the facility to supermax but is a long shot, hail mary at reducing things or even getting off. Why not? Classic asymmetric payoff. Any trader will see that. (Maybe my analysis is wrong and it /can/ make things meaningfully worse but if not, it's extremely rational).
- rmason 3y agoI think he was warned about the consequences of making public statements. I think he thought he knew more than anyone else. I am guessing that he will have an extremely hard adjustment to prison. But who knows? He could end up being the shot caller.
- primitivesuave 3y agoPerhaps he goes on to start the world's first decentralized cigarette currency? :)
- GhostWhisperer 3y ago> But who knows? people with law degrees do
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