I've worked for people like that. They truly believe that they can talk their way out of everything. If all you have is casual contact (contacts where they are

I've worked for people like that. They truly believe that they can talk their way out of everything. If all you have is casual contact (contacts where they are in control of the time, place and agenda), they are very believable, very charismatic, very in-control; you will leave thinking that they are totally correct. If you are stuck meeting them every single day, rain or shine, good or bad, in sickness or in health, then you see behind the curtain. The lies build up until you feel that you have to wash the filth off your skin several times per day. Back then, the word "gaslighting" was not in common use. It would have made things far more understandable to me. It took me years to get over the feeling that I was the wrongness in the room. It was like being back in a cult again. It might be easier for you to work from the viewpoint that SBF ran a cult. What sort of person starts and runs one? How do they treat possible recruits? How do they treat unbelievers? How do they treat neutral outsiders? Who is in the "inner circle"? It is my belief that SBF felt he could negotiate his way out of trouble. That he just had to talk to the outsiders like he talked to his believers and then everything would be fine. The prosecutors kept showing to the jury what he actually said to his inner circle - and that sank SBF's case.