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Bankman-Fried used $100M in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says

reuters.com

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Re: Bankman-Fried used $100M in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says

#31

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

ceejayoz wrote: post #25
efitz wrote: post #20

[flagged]

David Weiss is the prosecutor 31 Senate Republicans specifically requested not long ago. https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Hun... > Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) does not think much of the appointment of U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel for the Justice Department’s investigation into Hunter Biden, the president’s son. > Attorney General Merrick Garland “knows Weiss will protect Hu…

> Y'all need to make up your minds

it's unclear what you're even talking about here. Who is y'all? What does y'all need to make their minds up about?

Re: Bankman-Fried used $100M in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says

#32

Post by andrewmutz »

edgyquant wrote: post #23
delfinom wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biggest success of the US oligarchy is to convince the general population that lobbying is not bribery.

Considering this is a common belief, it’s hard to agree they’ve convinced anyone.

Have you been to a country that has actual corruption?

Re: Bankman-Fried used $100M in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says

#33

Post by BoxFour »

snickerbockers wrote: post #30
crazygringo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's quite common for politicians to return money that is stolen/foreign/otherwise when they find out. Sometimes because the law requires it, but also if they don't, the attack ad for their opponent writes itself. Although obviously it depends on how much time has passed and whether the money should already be considered "spent". Because even if the politician wants to repay it, new donors want their money going to r…

Even so, the punishment for most crimes is more severe than merely reversing the effects of the crime.

Accepting illegitimate funds without awareness doesn't appear to be a criminal offense, based on my understanding (short of falling afoul of money laundering). The punishment typically just involves returning the funds.

Unless there's compelling evidence to definitively demonstrate their awareness of the funds' misappropriated source, it seems challenging to establish grounds for substantial punitive action in this situation.

Re: Bankman-Fried used $100M in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says

#34

Post by preommr »

crazygringo wrote: post #13
ncann wrote: post #6

Funny how because these are "donation" and "lobbying" but not "bribe" there is no consequence for the receiving party and also no recuperation of the money.

It's quite common for politicians to return money that is stolen/foreign/otherwise when they find out. Sometimes because the law requires it, but also if they don't, the attack ad for their opponent writes itself. Although obviously it depends on how much time has passed and whether the money should already be considered "spent". Because even if the politician wants to repay it, new donors want their money going to r…

> but also if they don't, the attack ad for their opponent writes itself.

Does this even matter anymore? Seems like people are so tribal that they'll vote for their party no matter what, combined with lots of voter apathy makes it seem like it doesn't matter.

Re: Bankman-Fried used $100M in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says

#35

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

thegrim22 wrote: post #17
acdha wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He’s hardly in a maximum security prison with that kind of risk of violence, and HN really doesn’t need random conspiracy theories.

The guy you're replying to took the data as he saw it, formed a hypothesis that matched the data, and the hypothesis makes a prediction which can be validated. Is it an unlikely/weak hypothesis? Sure. But you're asking him to just throw away thought/science, to not try to explain the world.

you're describing what all conspiracy theorists claim to do

if the unvalidated, hole-filled hypothesis (which DOESN'T, in fact, match the data) can indeed be validated, then validate it and report the process and results of validation

short of that, the unvalidated, hole-filled hypothesis which doesn't match the data, seems unlikely, given the millions of donations to republicans

Re: Bankman-Fried used $100M in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says

#36

Post by wongarsu »

lacrimacida wrote: post #24
crazygringo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's quite common for politicians to return money that is stolen/foreign/otherwise when they find out. Sometimes because the law requires it, but also if they don't, the attack ad for their opponent writes itself. Although obviously it depends on how much time has passed and whether the money should already be considered "spent". Because even if the politician wants to repay it, new donors want their money going to r…

> Because even if the politician wants to repay it, new donors want their money going to re-election activities, not going to repay FTX. After a period of time, you might as well be asking the television stations to return the money they received for running the campaign ads, which... isn't gonna happen. Politicians should be made to pay out of their own pockets or have an insurance for this type of situation.

> Politicians should be made to pay out of their own pockets

We don't want to create a system where only the rich can afford to be politicians ... or at least we don't want to make that any worse than it already is

Re: Bankman-Fried used $100M in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says

#37

Post by maximinus_thrax »

ncann wrote: post #6

Funny how because these are "donation" and "lobbying" but not "bribe" there is no consequence for the receiving party and also no recuperation of the money.

The 'bribe vs donation/lobbying' line in popular culture is the former iron curtain borders.

Re: Bankman-Fried used $100M in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says

#38

Post by BoxFour »

preommr wrote: post #34
crazygringo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's quite common for politicians to return money that is stolen/foreign/otherwise when they find out. Sometimes because the law requires it, but also if they don't, the attack ad for their opponent writes itself. Although obviously it depends on how much time has passed and whether the money should already be considered "spent". Because even if the politician wants to repay it, new donors want their money going to r…

> but also if they don't, the attack ad for their opponent writes itself. Does this even matter anymore? Seems like people are so tribal that they'll vote for their party no matter what, combined with lots of voter apathy makes it seem like it doesn't matter.

Your political opponent may very well be someone from your own party.

Re: Bankman-Fried used $100M in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says

#40

Post by lacrimacida »

wongarsu wrote: post #36
lacrimacida wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because even if the politician wants to repay it, new donors want their money going to re-election activities, not going to repay FTX. After a period of time, you might as well be asking the television stations to return the money they received for running the campaign ads, which... isn't gonna happen. Politicians should be made to pay out of their own pockets or have an insurance for this type of situation.

> Politicians should be made to pay out of their own pockets We don't want to create a system where only the rich can afford to be politicians ... or at least we don't want to make that any worse than it already is

Well, they should know their sources and assume some responsibility, which they mostly lack these days.
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