Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison • Hacker News Board

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

#151

Post by vkou » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 4:16 PM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #33

Considering the multitude of charges, this is actually pretty low. It appears he was sentenced to a less-than-full term for each of the charges, to be served sequentially (since if the sentences were served simultaneously, the total actual term would be much less than 25 years). We'll know more in about an hour. EDIT: Actually, the Verge has already reported:"The judge applied a 240-month sentence and a 60-month sent…

Given that all the crimes originated from pretty much the same offense, it would be highly surprising if the sentences weren't served simultaneously.

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

#152

Post by tyingq » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 4:16 PM UTC

crispyambulance wrote: post #114

chongli wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low? That's high! He didn't kill anyone. A sentence of 25 years completely destroys his life. He's been made an example of.

> A sentence of 25 years completely destroys his life. No, it does not "destroy his life". He will be in his early/mid-50's when gets out. Someone with his privilege, education and resources should have known better. It's hard to feel sympathy. I expect that sufficient punishment in cases like this will serve as a deterrent for others like SBF who would do the same. Hopefully he is ALSO restricted, for life, from eve…

>Hopefully he is ALSO restricted, for life, from ever working in finance again.

A felony conviction is pretty effective for heavily restricting any type of employment. The universal and cheap access to background checks means work is either places that deliberately have "hire a felon" programs or some type of self-employment, or connections with people very high up in a company. Though all those angles are also complicated if any sort of state licensing is involved.

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

#153

Post by Analemma_ » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 4:16 PM UTC

CharlesW wrote: post #112

ak_111 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is long enough to destroy his life. What matters if he gets out at 70 or 80 if he gets out at 60?

> It is long enough to destroy his life. Hardly. Milken was sentenced to 10 and served 2. SBF will serve 7, at which point he'll still be under 40.

This is not correct. Federal sentences do not have parole and can be reduced by a maximum of only 15%, meaning (if that happens) SBF will serve at least 21 years and be 53 when released.

Milken was released because Trump pardoned him, which I don't think says anything about how sentencing guidelines do or should work.

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

#154

Post by zone411 » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 4:17 PM UTC

shiftpgdn wrote: post #34

PokedBear wrote: post #24

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 think ruining thousands of lives through fraud without remorse constitutes a threat to society. He should never see the light of day again.

All creditors are expected to be repaid in full, though based on Nov 2022 crypto prices.

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

#155

Post by hintymad » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 4:17 PM UTC

nkozyra wrote: post #61

PokedBear wrote: post #24

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.

I guess the nuance is that SBF can get paroles if he behaved well. That is, this 25 years can be punitive, but he will also has a chance to earn some trust and reduce the punishment.

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

#156

Post by arrowsmith » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 4:17 PM UTC

klodolph wrote: post #91

nixgeek wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insanely low? Insanely high? SBF hasn’t really accepted responsibility or apologized through the trial, and didn’t at sentencing either. Judge Kaplan seems to have taken a balanced view — far from the statutory maximum, less than the U.S. wanted, more than the defense wanted. There will of course be appeals — SBF has already indicated he will file one. There’s good coverage of what took place at sentencing today here…

High, generally. The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and US sentences are an outlier in terms of how long they are (they’re not the longest, but the whole picture is kind of shocking).

> The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world

It's actually the 6th:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/262962/countries-with-th...

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

#157

Post by KingOfCoders » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 4:17 PM UTC

nkozyra wrote: post #61

PokedBear wrote: post #24

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.

The problem is, criminals think they will not be caught. There is a deterrent, but the difference between 10, 20 and 30 years is abstract for someone who thinks they are not caught.

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

#158

Post by taminka » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 4:17 PM UTC

sabana wrote: post #14

Quite a short sentence for the magnitude of the crime. Financial crimes like these do kill people and destroy countless lives. They deserve maximum pentalties.

prison should fundamentally be abt rehabilitation, not whatever retribution random ppl think is “proportional”

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

#159

Post by A_D_E_P_T » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 4:17 PM UTC

To put this into its proper perspective, see table 7 here:

https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-pu...

In 2022, the average murderer in the Federal Southern District of New York (N = 58) was sentenced to a median of 231 months, which comes out to 19 years and change.

No crime of any type had an mean or median sentence higher than 25 years; most were far less than half.

So it should be really hard to argue that this is a "light" sentence. If anything, it's excessive if you consider the nature of the crime relative to the nature of murder or kidnapping.

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

#160

Post by Analemma_ » Thu, Mar 28, 2024, 4:18 PM UTC

laidoffamazon wrote: post #95

I recall people very confidently saying he would never be prosecuted for his political ties.

Those same people have effortlessly pivoted to saying that 25 years is a slap on the wrist (I'd like to see them stay locked in a prison for 25 years to demonstrate they actually believe this).