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SEC Charges Samuel Bankman-Fried with Defrauding Investors in FTX [pdf]

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Re: SEC Charges Samuel Bankman-Fried with Defrauding Investors in FTX [pdf]

#101
post #23

The SEC's complaint. It's a brutal read if you're Sam: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2022/comp-pr2022-2...

I read the whole thing, it's a damning account and he's never going to work in finance again.

This is the biggest understatement of the century.

Re: SEC Charges Samuel Bankman-Fried with Defrauding Investors in FTX [pdf]

#102
post #82

The most interest aspect in the FTX saga, for me, is that SBF was treated very gently by major news outlets (and maybe by government regulators too)... until regular individuals in social media started asking: Why is SBF being treated so kindly? Why would journalists (and regulators) assume that SBF meant well? A possible answer that no one ever mentions is that SBF possesses many qualities that are valued and admire…

A lot of people have made this argument -- that he was treated gently -- but to me that looks like good old-fashioned journalism. People have become so acclimated to the decline of objective journalism that when they see it, something seems off.

Re: SEC Charges Samuel Bankman-Fried with Defrauding Investors in FTX [pdf]

#103
post #21
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The various players in crypto space have written a ton of EULA mumbo-jumbo explaining that the coins are not securities (as they want the freedom to pump&dump/front run orders/etc). If they admitted the cryptos are securities, all sorts of pesky regulations would apply

Stealing securities you're supposed to store for me is a crime. Stealing non-securities you're supposed to store for me is also a crime.

Yes, thank you! So many comments are like "it's a crypto investment, you shouldn't expect safety" when they weren't investments but holdings. As if this was just market forces at play. They have no idea about happened here.

Re: SEC Charges Samuel Bankman-Fried with Defrauding Investors in FTX [pdf]

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It won’t, just like even in this thread you see the perennial “this is good, actually.” At rock bottom the crypto world is held up by unadulterated greed and it shows on both ends: I am willing to make too-good-to-be-true “investments” because greed; when that unfolds the obvious way it was going to then it’s someone else’s fault and they’re not moving fast enough — also greed. In short: “Why aren’t I rich yet, I’ll…

> It won’t, just like even in this thread you see the perennial “this is good, actually.” That's not quite what the grandparent poster was talking about. One strain of thought on FTX/SBF has been conspiratorial. Allegedly, SBF was "a big Democratic donor" with connections in high places, so he would evade any serious US-based law enforcement action. This view is likely related to FTX's (previous) attempts to present…

Right, I'm aware of this. My claim (feel free to disagree) is that this conspiratorial thinking is coming from the exact same region of CryptoBrain as what built up crypto-land and FTX/SBF to begin with. It is the sensation that you are in on something special, everyone who is not in on it is either an antagonist or an idiot, and you deserve more than they deserve.

Re: SEC Charges Samuel Bankman-Fried with Defrauding Investors in FTX [pdf]

#106
post #23

The SEC's complaint. It's a brutal read if you're Sam: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2022/comp-pr2022-2...

> 31. From the inception of FTX, Bankman-Fried diverted FTX customer funds to Alameda, and he continued to do so until FTX’s collapse in November 2022

I assume they have the evidence, and while what SBF was saying (we never touched customer funds etc.) was never particularly credible - it blows up the narative that he has maintained to date. Indeed much of the case is built on his public statements (and testimony) being false.

Re: SEC Charges Samuel Bankman-Fried with Defrauding Investors in FTX [pdf]

#107
post #82

The most interest aspect in the FTX saga, for me, is that SBF was treated very gently by major news outlets (and maybe by government regulators too)... until regular individuals in social media started asking: Why is SBF being treated so kindly? Why would journalists (and regulators) assume that SBF meant well? A possible answer that no one ever mentions is that SBF possesses many qualities that are valued and admire…

> The most interest aspect in the FTX saga, for me, is that SBF was treated very gently by major news outlets (and maybe by government regulators too)... until regular individuals in social media started asking: Why is SBF being treated so kindly? Why would journalists (and regulators) assume that SBF meant well?

I went through a few examples people brought up of journalists supposedly treating Bankman-Fried kindly the other day[1]. When I read what journalists were actually saying, they were quite negative about Bankman-Fried (saying he was "betraying his clients" or saying FTX "didn’t crumble due to bad luck, but what now appears to be unsustainable layers of deception").

The crypto community seems to be trying really hard to deflect from the fallout of yet another major crypto scam, and spinning whatever they can to make this seem like this is the fault of establishment non-crypto folks. Remember that just a few days ago people were claiming that Bankman-Fried hadn't been charged because he had paid off U.S. politicians.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33811681

Re: SEC Charges Samuel Bankman-Fried with Defrauding Investors in FTX [pdf]

#108
post #23

The SEC's complaint. It's a brutal read if you're Sam: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2022/comp-pr2022-2...

I read the whole thing, it's a damning account and he's never going to work in finance again.

I highly doubt Sam needs to worry about his career prospects sir. But if he is would love to see solve some LC hards

Re: SEC Charges Samuel Bankman-Fried with Defrauding Investors in FTX [pdf]

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It won’t, just like even in this thread you see the perennial “this is good, actually.” That's not quite what the grandparent poster was talking about. One strain of thought on FTX/SBF has been conspiratorial. Allegedly, SBF was "a big Democratic donor" with connections in high places, so he would evade any serious US-based law enforcement action. This view is likely related to FTX's (previous) attempts to present…

Right, I'm aware of this. My claim (feel free to disagree) is that this conspiratorial thinking is coming from the exact same region of CryptoBrain as what built up crypto-land and FTX/SBF to begin with. It is the sensation that you are in on something special, everyone who is not in on it is either an antagonist or an idiot, and you deserve more than they deserve.

I would suspect it's also that crypto tends to attract "government bad" sort of folk with the whole "rebuild some decentralized world" or something, as well as folks whothink "government bad" because they don't want those pesky regulators getting in the way of ponzishop1000 as they can only see the next bull market in their mind.

I think a lot of people are in the second camp, but dress it up as the first. It's funny how tons of people who claim "I'm here for the tech, hodl" get mad whenever somebody shorts their coin or the price goes down

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