Sam Bankman-Fried tries to explain himself

Post by hn_throwaway_99 » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 3:40 AM UTC

naveen99 wrote: post #325

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> FTX lent the money to someone else (even if Alameda Research is also owned by SBF), and that other group lost the money One minor clarification: "lent" should be "stole". If I can't pay my mortgage, I'm not allowed to go break in to my neighbor's house to steal some cash that I'll "borrow" in the hopes of paying back later. FTX's Ts&Cs we're very clear - customer deposits were not FTX's to lend. This is a simple, s…

How do you think margin works ?

Post by sdwr » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 4:08 AM UTC

expazl wrote: post #222

Imnimo wrote: post #203

The obvious conclusion here is that SBF is just a cynical but skilled manipulator. But then why send these DMs at all - surely a skilled manipulator would know better, or could at least present himself in a positive light? Maybe all those stimulants have taken their toll. Or he's totally given up.

> surely a skilled manipulator would know better, or could at least present himself in a positive light? My bet is that he lost his back country. He was until recently the front-person for a hugely successful enterprise who donated money extremely broadly. Back then he could have yelled "I run a goddamn ponzi scheme" into the loudspeaker of huge credible news outlets and they would have edited to "Master genius is go…

Post by HWR_14 » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 4:18 AM UTC

bhouston wrote: post #323

HWR_14 wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this part isn't a ponzi. He has a lot of crypto and he wants someone to buy it all for $8 billion, so he can return that $8 billion to his customers. He says it's worth $9 billion down from $14 billion two weeks ago, so it's a great deal. Now, I would say it's worth far less, maybe hundreds of millions. This part is "if I firesale all the crypto, can I get enough fiat to pay back my customers so that there's no c…

I am not sure. If I owe $8B and I raise $8B and then give it to the people whom are owed $8B, what exactly am I giving the investors? Basically he has an $8B hole and let's say everything else nets to zero (e.g. assets - liabilities = -$8B.) No one in their right mind would give $8B to get what is otherwise worth nothing. This is a non-starter, especially now that the brand is also completely tarnished.

Post by ZephyrBlu » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 4:37 AM UTC

europeanguy wrote: post #334

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #148

Author: "so the ethics stuff - mostly a front?" SBF: "yeah" Absolutely gobsmacked. I saw these screenshots on Twitter and I thought they were fake until I read the article. The rest of the messages from him are pretty terrible as well. I thought he just fucked up, but no. He was wilfully unethical and maintains he did nothing wrong: "Sometimes life creeps up on you". And the thing he regrets most is filing for Chapte…

How can you think he "just fucked up", and not unethical? He was selling magic beans. He was going "this thing I just made up, I declare it with billions".

Post by retconn » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 6:04 AM UTC

viscanti wrote: post #258

burkaman wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried, incompetence could be a legal strategy - https://www.axios.com/2022/11/16/ftx-sam-bankman-fried-incom... > Lawyers tell Axios the main criminal risk Bankman-Fried faces is an indictment on charges of fraud — one of the more common charges in white-collar prosecutions. But to convict, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone had knowledge or intent to commit fraud, whi…

He built a special backend endpoint so he could move money from FTX to Alameda without triggering any oversight or audits. They have him on fraud.