Trump pardons convicted Binance founder • Hacker News Board

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#211

Post by 9dev » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 8:51 PM UTC

bdavisx wrote: post #12

Serious question - it seems that many of this Administrations activities are illegal in some way or the other. I know that government officials are shielded from a lot of actions so they can not be prosecuted. What actions that have been taken could actually be prosecuted? For example, I would have to assume that the ballroom demolition and build-out is illegal, there were $0 appropriated from Congress for this, and…

What about the acts of piracy (in the classic, seafaring way) and coldblooded murder of foreign citizens, carried out by US soldiers, claimed to be "drug dealers" (like that was a capital offence anyway)?

I’m curious if any of the involved personell will ever be tried for that.

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#212

Post by jb1991 » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 8:51 PM UTC

dgrr19 wrote: post #36

skm12 wrote: post #16

- Zhao has ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture that Trump and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. launched in September. - Trump’s most recent financial disclosure report reveals he made more than $57 million last year from World Liberty Financial

they just reported 1B from crypto ventures, so 57m seems like lunch money...

I wonder what those ventures actually are and how that money is made?

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#213

Post by carnufex » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 8:52 PM UTC

I mean is it any different than Joe Biden given blanket pardons hundreds of people for crimes that they may have committed over a 10 year span?

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#214

Post by Teever » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 8:52 PM UTC

gleenn wrote: post #131

sleepybrett wrote: post #125

If we ever get trump out of office we need to re-arrest every last one of these guys. The supremes can whine and cry as we keep them in prison. They can raise an army if the want anything different. Serious controls need to be placed around the pardon power.

Double Jeopardy is disallowed in the United States, they would have to be convicted on new crimes.

They most certainly committed other crimes which were uncovered when they were investigated for the crimes that they were charged and now pardoned of.

Also as I understand it, while the can't be tried twice for the same crime Federally, it's still possible that they can be tried in a state court for committing the same crime.

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#215

Post by mbfg » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 8:53 PM UTC

Alifatisk wrote: post #188

I cannot comprehend how half of Americans are fine with this corrupt leader? He even does this bizarre maffia like deals out in the open for his own interest, that's how confident he is no one will say anything The message is clear from his circus administration, you can do anything as long as you bribe them

"I Could ... Shoot Somebody, And I Wouldn't Lose Any Voters" - Trump

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#216

Post by AISnakeOil » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 8:53 PM UTC

Alifatisk wrote: post #188

I cannot comprehend how half of Americans are fine with this corrupt leader? He even does this bizarre maffia like deals out in the open for his own interest, that's how confident he is no one will say anything The message is clear from his circus administration, you can do anything as long as you bribe them

[flagged]

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#217

Post by 9dev » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 8:53 PM UTC

bediger4000 wrote: post #79

platevoltage wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We better hope JD Vance isn't able to capture the cult of personality after Trump is gone.

I have doubts that JD Vance can pull off a Republican realignment to himself. He's not a 2nd gen wealthy person who assumes that every one will do his bidding.

And trump himself isn’t exactly that?

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#218

Post by covercash » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 8:53 PM UTC

WheatMillington wrote: post #182

bdavisx wrote: post #12

Serious question - it seems that many of this Administrations activities are illegal in some way or the other. I know that government officials are shielded from a lot of actions so they can not be prosecuted. What actions that have been taken could actually be prosecuted? For example, I would have to assume that the ballroom demolition and build-out is illegal, there were $0 appropriated from Congress for this, and…

This is not "good guys versus bad guys", the democratic party are not going to wash all this badness away. They have been guilty of basically the same things, even if at a lesser scale. Biden tried to appropriate billions outside of congress for student loan forgiveness. Political pardons have been a factor since the beginning of the US experiment. Pelosi has been using her position for self-enrichment in the open fo…

We need them all gone. Anyone who makes "politician" a career is precisely the wrong type of person to be an elected official. It should never be about personal gain. Wipe them all out, implement campaign finance reform, set term limits, prioritize election security & availability...

We need a reset.

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#219

Post by peter422 » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 8:53 PM UTC

ugh123 wrote: post #200

wmf wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only 16% but rising fast. https://polymarket.com/event/sbf-released-from-custody-in-20...

I consider SBF's crime way less serious given that the end result actually made money for "victims"* which was the intended goal from the start. However Binance guy knowingly commits money laundering and gets the pardon? * Those victims who did not wait through the full asset recovery process and sold their debt to "vulture investors" for pennies on the dollar.

If your definition of “making money” is turning bitcoins into USD at bitcoins low point, and then paying that back to them in 2 years, alright.

You can have whatever opinion you want about the bankruptcy process, but FTX was most certainly insolvent, due to fraud, and at that point whatever happened after the recovery to make people as whole as possible (which for many was not even close) really shouldn’t get credited to SBF.

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#220

Post by Jweb_Guru » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 8:53 PM UTC

TheBlight wrote: post #165

WheatMillington wrote: post #158

It's incredible that American corruption can happen out in the open like this. And this isn't a uniquely Trump phenomena. Political pardons are an amazing thing, and they have been used by presidents for a long time now with extremely little scrutiny and no possibility for repercussions. The executive being able to overrule the judiciary is an absolutely jaw-dropping American institution. So much for checks and balan…

There's an argument the prosecution was political. See: https://x.com/balajis/status/1981423831572238856

The prosecution was not political lol, he went out of his way to support money laundering on the Binance platform. The reason he complied with the prosecution and pled guilty rather than try to fight it out in court was that they were able to produce a ton of evidence that he deliberately ignored regulators and regulations designed to prevent money laundering in order to make money off sanctioned groups and criminal organizations using the exchange as a way to circumvent KYC/AML laws. Please don't take what Balaji says about companies he invested in at face value.