Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, pleads guilty to seven offences • Hacker News Board

Re: Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, pleads guilty to seven offences

#21

Post by jmyeet » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:21 PM UTC

It's interesting to see this play out because much of it was predictable. Personally, I was amused at the people complaining that the SBF case was taking too long. If however you know something about how Federal prosecutions work, you'd know (and I made many comments about this) that the case was moving incredibly quickly.

As soon as SBF was indicted, it confirmed that the Feds had 1 or more cooperating witnesses and many correctly theorized Caroline Ellison was one of them. The other is less well-known but this basically maps out the prosecution's case. Ellison will testify to SBF's knowledge of the scheme. The other will testify to SBF instructing him to build the backdoor. Case closed.

This is an open and shut case. SBF getting out on bail was a surprise and it shows the double standard to how the US uses its civil asset forfeiture power. Specifically, that doesn't seem to be used against SBF, his parents and his associates in a way that it has with far less wealthy people. I want people to realize that. For the record, I consider civil asset forfeiture to be unconstitutional and a travesty of justice but it is the law of the land.

I'm going to be really interested to see what kind of deal the Feds cut for two witnesses. Could it be as light as no jail time? I have doubts but it's not impossible. It'll probably be a much lighter sentence, probably less than 10 years, maybe less than 5.

Re: Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, pleads guilty to seven offences

#22

Post by MarcelOlsz » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:21 PM UTC

jazzyjackson wrote: post #11

ttoinou wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did you trust them in the first place ?

I don't see an implication that this person is personally fucked by FTX/Alameda, just mad that fraudsters are rolling in dough (til they get caught anyway, as they say, high risk high reward)

Yes. Exactly. Every day I wake up and I have to hear about some next cunt I've never heard of before. "Richest before 30!". Some other trillionaire. Some other little kid son of ivy's who ran away with another billion. It's always some fucking scam. Every fucking day. What is the point anymore? I'm a regular cunt who wants to do regular cunt things but I have to wake up to news that Google is planning a 30B "tech park" local to me.

Just kill me please.

Re: Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, pleads guilty to seven offences

#23

Post by danrocks » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:21 PM UTC

serf wrote: post #18

danrocks wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could he not trust them in the first place? C-level executives are on the record, before Congress, with the biggest and brightest politicians around, saying everything should be regulated, including themselves. They're actively projecting that they acknowledge the general sleaze surrounding the crypto industry and they are not a part of it. Hindsight is 20/20, but can you look at Binance, crypto.com, and other 't…

>Hindsight is 20/20, but can you look at Binance, crypto.com, and other 'trusted' crypto exchanges now and say "how can you trust them"? after this history of crypto exchanges thus-far? absolutely.

Well, when this particular exchange is operating legally in the US and its CEO is respected enough to have a sit at the table with Maxine Waters, the hardest-ass congressperson when it comes to the financial sector, it's much harder than some guy yelling about his exchange on TikTok or Instagram?

Re: Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, pleads guilty to seven offences

#24

Post by potatototoo99 » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:22 PM UTC

sillysaurusx wrote: post #16

She’s the queen of wallstreetbets. I think she’ll hold the yolo record for a long time. I wish we knew what the fateful market play was that sunk her ship. She mentioned she’s not a fan of stop losses, so I wonder if she went to bed with an open market position and woke up to negative three billion. Also I wonder if the entity on the other side of that trade realized they were making someone insolvent. It’ll be inter…

There probably wasn't any single one trade.

Re: Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, pleads guilty to seven offences

#25

Post by Nicksil » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:23 PM UTC

MarcelOlsz wrote: post #19

ttoinou wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did you trust them in the first place ?

I never trusted any of these cunts. I didn't give them my money because I'm not a fucking idiot. How dare you try to assume I wrote my post out of personal anger. How dare you victim blame me in the face of a robber barons. You are an awful person.

>I never trusted any of these cunts. I didn't give them my money because I'm not a fucking idiot. How dare you try to assume I wrote my post out of personal anger. How dare you victim blame me in the face of a robber barons. You are an awful person.

You're trying way too hard.

Re: Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, pleads guilty to seven offences

#26

Post by MarcelOlsz » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:23 PM UTC

danrocks wrote: post #23

serf wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Hindsight is 20/20, but can you look at Binance, crypto.com, and other 'trusted' crypto exchanges now and say "how can you trust them"? after this history of crypto exchanges thus-far? absolutely.

Well, when this particular exchange is operating legally in the US and its CEO is respected enough to have a sit at the table with Maxine Waters, the hardest-ass congressperson when it comes to the financial sector, it's much harder than some guy yelling about his exchange on TikTok or Instagram?

She is the opposite of "hardest-ass" as she is sitting down with these robbers and they're all greasing each others palms. This shit doesn't magically happen.

Re: Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, pleads guilty to seven offences

#27

Post by braingenious » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:23 PM UTC

danrocks wrote: post #10

ttoinou wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did you trust them in the first place ?

How could he not trust them in the first place? C-level executives are on the record, before Congress, with the biggest and brightest politicians around, saying everything should be regulated, including themselves. They're actively projecting that they acknowledge the general sleaze surrounding the crypto industry and they are not a part of it. Hindsight is 20/20, but can you look at Binance, crypto.com, and other 't…

> How could he not trust them in the first place?

Because they were running a crypto exchange, a sort of business that very frequently ends rapidly and in a way that is not good for regular users.

Re: Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, pleads guilty to seven offences

#28

Post by potatototoo99 » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:24 PM UTC

klipt wrote: post #3

I wonder if something similar will eventually happen to the Tether people? To my understanding they're printing money (USDT) which they claim is backed 1:1 by USD but really isn't. These USDTs can then be spent to pump up various other crypto assets. Seems a very shady business.

They don't claim it's backed 1:1 by USD. They claim it's backed by more or less liquid alternatives: https://tether.to/en/transparency/#reports

Re: Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, pleads guilty to seven offences

#29

Post by baobabKoodaa » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:24 PM UTC

sillysaurusx wrote: post #16

She’s the queen of wallstreetbets. I think she’ll hold the yolo record for a long time. I wish we knew what the fateful market play was that sunk her ship. She mentioned she’s not a fan of stop losses, so I wonder if she went to bed with an open market position and woke up to negative three billion. Also I wonder if the entity on the other side of that trade realized they were making someone insolvent. It’ll be inter…

> She mentioned she’s not a fan of stop losses

At the volume they were trading, stop losses are no longer practical. The market is not infinitely deep.

Re: Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, pleads guilty to seven offences

#30

Post by jacquesm » Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 10:26 PM UTC

sillysaurusx wrote: post #16

She’s the queen of wallstreetbets. I think she’ll hold the yolo record for a long time. I wish we knew what the fateful market play was that sunk her ship. She mentioned she’s not a fan of stop losses, so I wonder if she went to bed with an open market position and woke up to negative three billion. Also I wonder if the entity on the other side of that trade realized they were making someone insolvent. It’ll be inter…

I think you are assuming way too much here. She's not the queen of anything, she's a fraudster that will spend a long time in jail and that has probably much less understanding of the mechanisms involved than you give her credit for. If she did she wouldn't be in the position she's in. The last thing we really need is for people to start lionizing her.