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Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

nytimes.com

421–430 of 1001 posts

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#421

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/statement-us-attorney-d... "This case is also a warning to every fraudster who thinks they're untouchable, that their crimes are too complex for us to catch, that they are too powerful to prosecute, or that they are clever enough to talk their way out of it if caught."

"Oh no," a person just like SBF is surely thinking in response to this verdict, "I'd better straighten up and stop thinking that I am clever enough to talk my way out of situations if caught."

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#422
post #349

For anyone curious, Ken White has a good and entertaining article breaking down maximum sentences in print (here, 110 years) and what people actually serve. It's worth a read: https://www.popehat.com/2013/02/05/crime-whale-sushi-sentenc... A takeaway: "1. Maximum sentences have very little relation to actual sentences in federal law. When the government quotes the maximum sentence, they are trying to scare you. When…

Yeah, I’ve heard that a bunch - about the press being uninformed or lazy. I’d offer that they are neither, but if they are restricting themselves to reporting facts and not prognostications and opinions, the statutory maximum is a reasonable thing to report.

A statement like "but it is often true that statutory maximums far exceed actual sentences" wouldn't be a prediction nor an opinion.

This isn't the place to be sticking up for journalism. They really are both uninformed and lazy.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#423

I really don’t think they should have let the rest of the executive team walk, especially Ellison. They knew what they were doing too, and I’m sure they could have built a strong enough case to convince SBF and the others through plea deals and such

Nobody is walking. All of them will be jailed, but some will get lighter sentences.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#424
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's being debated in the bankruptcy court. Some creditors want to sell it off and others want to let it ride. Because this is crypto, some people want to issue a crypto token that represents claims on the estate.

>some people want to issue a crypto token that represents claims on the estate What could possibly go wrong? :D

I think this is a terrible idea, but I fully endorse it because of the chance that it could hilariously result in FTX investors losing the same money twice.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#425

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/statement-us-attorney-d... "This case is also a warning to every fraudster who thinks they're untouchable, that their crimes are too complex for us to catch, that they are too powerful to prosecute, or that they are clever enough to talk their way out of it if caught."

"Oh no," a person just like SBF is surely thinking in response to this verdict, "I'd better straighten up and stop thinking that I am clever enough to talk my way out of situations if caught."

he talked his way into this conviction. Any news on his ethics teacher parents?

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#427

I'm curious how the sentencing goes, not only for SBF but those around him that took deals. In my limited view of US cases, it often seems prosecutors let off lightly anyone that will testify in return for their whale. Sometimes feels it's more symbolic justice that way than real.

Prosecutors don't decide sentences in the United States. Judges decide sentences and in US Federal Government cases, the US Government issues sentencing guidelines. These guidelines are usually used to determine how long a person goes to prison for.

What prosecutors can do is recommend a sentence and let the judge know that a criminal cooperated. Cooperating typically reduces a criminal's sentance. Ultimately, Federal sentences are decided by three things:

A) The laws of the United States. These can be changed by the United States Congress.

B) The sentencing guidelines (https://www.ussc.gov/guidelines)

C) Prison Capacity (At some point, you cannot send anyone else to jail because the prisons are full)

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#428

For anyone curious, Ken White has a good and entertaining article breaking down maximum sentences in print (here, 110 years) and what people actually serve. It's worth a read: https://www.popehat.com/2013/02/05/crime-whale-sushi-sentenc... A takeaway: "1. Maximum sentences have very little relation to actual sentences in federal law. When the government quotes the maximum sentence, they are trying to scare you. When…

In some ways I can understand white collar criminals being "more evil" than murderers. As I understand it, murderers are often acting out of desperation, poverty, etc. On the other hand, it seems like a lot of white collar criminals who have everything but feel entitled to take from people who already have less than them. Although clearly the murderers did the more heinous crime. Not trying to say that this is someth…

White collar criminals can also ruin multiple lives. Victims of such fraud have even been driven to suicide before. In those cases, at least, I find it hard to say it isn't roughly approximate to murder.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#429
post #128
post #120

Interestingly, FTX made a $500 million USD investment in Anthropic; supposedly, this was made while Anthropic was valued at $4.6 billion (unconfirmed). Now, Anthropic is nearing $30 billion. Anyone know the latest on this? Is FTX going to sell that stake off to pay back the debts? [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-frieds-anthropic...

It's being debated in the bankruptcy court. Some creditors want to sell it off and others want to let it ride. Because this is crypto, some people want to issue a crypto token that represents claims on the estate.

So, effectively, some kind of "FTX Crypto-themed ETF"?

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking online I see reports that FTX owes its creditors $3B. If Anthropic has 6.5x then the initial $500 million is now worth $3.25B. Is it actually possible that all creditors will get their money back? Pretty crazy if so.

Can a $3B nominal stake in Anthropic actually be liquidated for $3B?

It’s an interesting question. The shares are likely not transferrable without amending the LLC agreement or whatever. If you want in on Anthropic, though, and you know the FTX estate has to liquidate, then there’s a chance you can get to a good price; maybe less than $3B but probably not a ton, because lots of other people want in too.

On the other hand, the current investors probably won’t want to make an exception for FTX if they know it’s going to cause them to write down their stakes.

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