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

theguardian.com

31–40 of 255 posts

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

#31
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.

Didn't Tether get ordered the other day to disclaim all of its reserves? What happened to that? I find it incredible they keep surviving attempts to reveal exactly how the sausage is made in their reserves. https://www.yahoo.com/video/stablecoin-issuer-tether-ordered...

It seems like they were ordered to give the plaintiffs the documents, but they weren’t ordered to publicly release them. NYAG also looked into them last year. They were fined but it doesn’t seem like anything else came of it.

> The New York Attorney General’s probe into Tether’s reserves concluded in February 2021 with an $18.5 million settlement.

I don’t hold any tether, and I wouldn’t recommend it to others. But the common opinion that Tether is insolvent might be wrong. Tether, as a stable business, is a money printing machine. I’m not sure it’d be worth risking the business and jail time to pump shitcoins.

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

#32
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?

Considering the fact that we now know that Maxine Waters got bamboozled by a 20something crypto bro, has your opinion of her being a competent regulator of the finance industry changed at all?

It’s fascinating when people think of politicians like sports teams and not public employees with a mandate of competence.

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

#33

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's not going to get sentenced to any time whatsoever. She cut a deal (full co-operation, forfeiture of assets and some fines) and is voluntarily pleading guilty to honor the deal.

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

#34

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.

Queen of WSB and yolo record are not a good thing... that is a subreddit that mocks bad risk management by ironically celebrating it. They know exactly what she is over there.

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

#35

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.

That ship has long sailed. She's coming out of this with a slap on the wrist because she ratted on SBF. She's a hero of the alt right because her Tumblr is full of creepy eugenics shit. She has a pervo following for being a poly sex fiend (allegedly). She's going to write a book, sell her movie rights, etc. and live a life of luxury as the woman that took down SBF and FTX (who will be remembered as the real fraudster).

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

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Maximum sentence of 110 years.

This outcome came about so quickly because she turned state's evidence, in return for what is likely to be an extreme reduction from that maximum (not that it was really a possibility, as a first offender)

Seems like it might be a bad move to enter a conspiracy with someone obsessed with game theory.

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

#37

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.

“Queen of wallstreetbets” is (presumably) not a compliment, it’s a reference to the idiots on the subreddit of that name, notorious for their irrational support of companies like Gamestop, and completely disconnected from any actual understanding of market behavior.

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

#38

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.

But she’s highly regarded!

It’s all just a little joke. Check out https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets. Also https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jg85H26wyLk

She certainly earned her sentence, and I have no sympathy for her. But isn’t it hard not to be at least a little impressed with the sheer scale of her losses? Getting in the record books for “most money lost by a single individual” is a hard thing to do in general.

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

#39
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

> They don't claim it's backed 1:1 by USD. They claim it's backed by more or less liquid alternatives

They used to, for several years, until they were pressured to prove it and could not (27:05).

https://youtu.be/-whuXHSL1Pg

They were also investigated and found guilty by the New York Attorney General, and were subsequently banned from activity in New York and fined 18.5M.

> Bitfinex and Tether recklessly and unlawfully covered-up massive financial losses to keep their scheme going and protect their bottom lines,” said Attorney General James. “Tether’s claims that its virtual currency was fully backed by U.S. dollars at all times was a lie.

https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-...

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