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Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

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Re: Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

#142
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's been a bit funny to watch the goalposts move. He won't be arrested, he won't be charged, he won't go to trial, he won't be convicted, he'll get a light sentence, his political donations will get him off, etc.

And I'm wondering now, who else will join him?

everyone except Sam Trabucco of alameda , very litte mention of him

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

25 years is a damn long time. I don’t know how that can “seem low”.

How much Bernie madoff got?

Madoff spent ~12 years in prison before he died at 82.

They gave him a 150 year sentence for a crime on par-ish with SBF's crimes, because at 70 there is little difference between 20 years and 100 years, so you may as well go for the shock value.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

#144
post #2

Seems low for what prosecutors consider "one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history." https://www.reuters.com/technology/sam-bankman-fried-be-sent...

If someone isn't a violent threat to society, there isn't much social benefit to keeping folks locked up longer then 20-ish years. 20-25 (assuming he gets the 15% off for good behavior the feds allow) is plenty.

The main purpose of imprisoning white-collar crime is to act as a deterrent. If the upside for a financial crime is billions of dollars, and the potential risk is 25 years in prison, lots of people will be willing to take that risk, especially if 25 years actually means 17ish with good behavior.

If the punishment is life in prison with no chance of parole, it'll act as more of a deterrent.

Punishment lengths don't act as a deterrent to petty and violent crime, because the people commiting those crimes are not intelligent or are crimes of passion. Systematic fraud like this is slow, calculated and methodical.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

#145
post #2

Seems low for what prosecutors consider "one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history." https://www.reuters.com/technology/sam-bankman-fried-be-sent...

Best teacher I had in high school taught economics. First day of class his lesson was "If you're going to become a criminal follow these 10 rules".

I can't remember all the rules but the two I do: 1. Don't do anything for less than $1M. Risk isn't worth the reward. 2. Don't use a weapon. It adds years to your sentence.

It was mostly about how white-collar crime has a much safer risk/reward ratio.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

#146

[flagged]

How much do you think an extra 5 years would add in terms of deterrence? It seems downright dishonest to characterize a third of his life as a joke.

Where I would put my energy into is making the risk of being prosecuted higher. If getting prosecuted is rare, the kind of people who are into cryptocurrency are going to figure that they’re likely to get away with it as long as they aren’t so blatant. White collar crime prevention needs to focus on changing that assumption.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

#148
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's been a bit funny to watch the goalposts move. He won't be arrested, he won't be charged, he won't go to trial, he won't be convicted, he'll get a light sentence, his political donations will get him off, etc.

And I'm wondering now, who else will join him?

That dude from Binance should be next.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

#150
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone isn't a violent threat to society, there isn't much social benefit to keeping folks locked up longer then 20-ish years. 20-25 (assuming he gets the 15% off for good behavior the feds allow) is plenty.

I have to ask: does 20 years provide more social benefit than 10? 5? Surely there's diminishing returns on imprisonment. As a deterrent and as a punitive, I get it, but even life sentences don't seem to deter crimes that can yield those punishments.

Imo 5 means 3 and that is too low for most serious crimes, it feels almost like an incentive to just not get caught, more than an incentive to not do it all.

Losing 20 years of your life though will have a drastic effect on the rest of your life. As it should for some crimes.

Or is your argument we should skip from 10 to death, I'm honestly not sure.

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