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Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

cnn.com

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

#311

Post by baobabKoodaa »

zarzavat wrote: post #214
swader999 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Three suicides related to the theft.

People also commit suicide if the bank repossesses their home, their spouse has an affair, their surgeon makes an error, etc. I’m not saying that SBF has no culpability, but I don’t think you should get prison time for causing someone’s suicide, or at least society doesn’t act as if it’s in any way equivalent to murder.

The scale of SBF's fraud was so enormous that the money could have been used to save hundreds of lives that have now perished. So if we use a little bit of EA napkin math, we can conclude SBF's crimes were on par to hundreds of murders.

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

#312

Post by brandonmenc »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #244

I love HN, it's one of the few places you can get reasoned conversation online. But this is one of those subjects where it gets weird. SBF was directly responsible for millions, if not billions, of direct monetary loss to identified individuals. Yet the top comments on HN are all discussing whether incarceration is retribution, spite, deterrence, or rehabilition. The USA incarcerates people for tiny financial damages…

> $20 of theft? 5 years away

Who in this day and age is going to jail for half a decade because they snuck a 20 dollar bill out of the cash register when no one was looking?

There are almost always violent actions involved that are conveniently glossed over whenever someone bemoans “life in prison for stealing a loaf of bread!”

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

#315

Post by FabHK »

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.

So, legal theory provides three reasons for punishment:

1) revenge ("an eye for an eye") - that's not considered a factor anymore today except as an upside-limit on the punishment, ie, the punishment should not exceed the damage caused. Here, the damage caused was immense, so don't think that'll be a limiting factor.

2) specific prevention - keep that particular perpetrator off the streets, so they can't commit crimes again. There's some argument that old people commit fewer crimes, so when the perpetrator is old enough, one can let them go. Maybe one shouldn't let SBF out until he's older than Madoff was...

3) general prevention, aka deterrence - make sure that the punishment (in conjunction with the probability of being caught) is sufficient to discourage others from committing the crime. This is problematic as apparently most perpetrators seem to think that they won't be caught (which is why capital punishment doesn't necessarily reduce crime rates). I think in this case it's good that the many, many crypto "operators" see that there is some downside in scamming people.

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

#316

Post by dandanua »

tithe wrote: 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...

It seems "the victimless crime" [1] became a normal line of defense when billionaires commit financial fraud. Insanity.

[1] https://youtu.be/EDMinX6t1Zk?t=420

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

#318

Post by boomboomsubban »

mzs wrote: post #238
zemariagp wrote: post #174

Good time to reflect on Ross Ulbright’s 2xLife sentence

One life sentence and that was based largely on him paying to have five people murdered.

Two life sentences for charges that had nothing to do with the alleged murder-for-hire. Those charges were dropped. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Ulbricht#Trial

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

#320

Post by notreallyauser »

carabiner wrote: post #257
maxclark wrote: post #195

SBF is 32 years old - 25 years isn't a death sentence for him Parole is available after 1/3 of term, realistically he won't serve 100% There's still a chance for him to get something out of his life post jail

He'll be out around 2040: https://x.com/wagieeacc/status/1768798879959400776?s=46&t=N5... Shkreli far and away has been providing the most informed analysis of this case. He trashed the letters to the judge from SBF's parents, then Judge Kaplan went on to raise the exact points Shkreli said he would.

That was based on a sentence of 20 and he got 25 -- so closer to 2044, I guess.
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