Tomorrow, somebody will become the first person in history to play League of Legends against a person who is simultaneously testifying at a US House hearing.
SBF scheduled to testify tomorrow at US House hearing on FTX collapse
111–120 of 204 posts
Re: SBF scheduled to testify tomorrow at US House hearing on FTX collapse
#112This guy is something else. He's one of the largest scammers in history, if not the largest, by the amount of appropriated funds. But he's also very "cute", I mean he cannot open his mouth without incriminating himself. This is going to be a good show. On a more serious note I do hope for some serious sentences on the back of it (counted in decades, maybe a few life sentences if possible), because it's too much of a…
There's a theory that his "gee shucks I'm so cute and dumb" thing is an act. He's portraying a character. No one is dumb enough to talk so much to so many news outlets after losing so much money.
Could be, absolutely. But I'm guessing there's more than enough evidence to convict him already. The real question is just how deep the rabbit hole goes, I bet this is what the prosecutors are working on. Meanwhile, "never interrupt your enemy while he's making a mistake".
Re: SBF scheduled to testify tomorrow at US House hearing on FTX collapse
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Kind of like how git made tools for decentralized development widespread, so nobody uses centralized intermediaries to host their repositories any more. /s
I don't think the /s is needed, decentralisation of "power" or "authority" has never worked. Decentralised protocols can work, such as Git, but people in general are both lazy and don't care. They will always gravitate towards the easy option, which is giving someone else control. What does work is centralise powder and authority with democratically chosen rules and regulations. It's the easy option, and it works. Fu…
I don't think the /s is needed, decentralization of "power" or "authority" has never worked.
Yes it most likely has. It's just not absolute. There's a very strong argument that all of history is supporting data for all societies and governments being on a spectrum of centralized power, with the more decentralized ones being better for the common person.
Re: SBF scheduled to testify tomorrow at US House hearing on FTX collapse
#114Having followed a lot of the SBF discussion since he keeps giving interviews, here's the FAQ-- 1) How did you lose $5ish billion of customer deposits? - They were deposited to Alameda, a totally independent hedge fund run by an unrelated party (my ex-girlfriend who lives with me). We credited Alameda without properly debiting Alameda on FTX. 2) Why didn't you track them? - There was a bug in the dashboard. I made a b…
In a nutshell, he ran FTX like Mt. Gox. He did't know what he was doing but just on a bigger scale than ever.
Re: SBF scheduled to testify tomorrow at US House hearing on FTX collapse
#115The fact that this guy has not been arrested just goes to show how completely f*cked America is.
It took the feds 3 years to indict Kenneth Lay for Enron. You’re going to be waiting a while. Feds get one shot at a case and they don’t tend to lose for a reason.
By arresting him now he can force a speedy trial. Feds are going to gather every single ounce of evidence they can before they go after him.
Re: SBF scheduled to testify tomorrow at US House hearing on FTX collapse
#116If someone has a direct contact to someone from the committee please forward them this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o_jPzBZSIo
Not to defend SBF or suggest he did anything correct, but isn't that _negligence_? Given that the factors of the negligence benefited their operations, it still may be charged as fraud and he may be guilty in court.
Re: SBF scheduled to testify tomorrow at US House hearing on FTX collapse
#117Can we just perp walk this guy already?
No, because then he can invoke his right to a speedy trial (72 days) leaving prosecutors in a spot where they can't use a grand jury to find new charges, have a time limit to get their case locked down, and they don't have time to make deals with smaller fish to testify against the big fish.
"The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine"
Re: SBF scheduled to testify tomorrow at US House hearing on FTX collapse
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
> These controls were skipped because SBF was convinced he was doing something extremely novel and complicated and such old-school concepts would only hinder his ability to execute on his brilliant ideas. Don't let him sell the story that it was all very complex and he made a bunch of mistakes and he should have done better. They used Snapchat for company messaging so there wound't be records. This wasn't a mistake d…
Woah source needed on the Snapchat for company messaging. I gotta see this.
> Ray said that “one of the most pervasive failures” at FTX’s main international exchange was the lack of records about decision-making. He said that Bankman-Fried often used messaging platforms with an auto-delete function “and encouraged employees to do the same.”
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/11/new-ftx-chief-sl...
("Snapchat" - the specific brand - may be inaccurate. I've seen it reported as messages that "auto-delete" without a specific platform mentioned.)
Re: SBF scheduled to testify tomorrow at US House hearing on FTX collapse
#119Shouldn't be be in custody?
My understanding is the Bahamas has confiscated his passport and is working with the DOJ to decide who prosecutes first as they aren't happy he ripped off rich people either.
What are the odds that Bahamas authorities were previously partners in his scheme, and now want to keep him in the Bahamas simply so they can loot the corpse of FTX before anybody else can?
Re: SBF scheduled to testify tomorrow at US House hearing on FTX collapse
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having also followed this unfolding drama, I can say this is sadly a reasonably accurate take. I'll add my own opinion which is that he seems to—at least on some level—legitimately believe that all of this is extremely complicated and impossible to understand unless you're someone of his intellectual caliber. It's so complicated, in fact, that even he struggles to keep it all in his head at once. I say this because I…
> These controls were skipped because SBF was convinced he was doing something extremely novel and complicated and such old-school concepts would only hinder his ability to execute on his brilliant ideas. Don't let him sell the story that it was all very complex and he made a bunch of mistakes and he should have done better. They used Snapchat for company messaging so there wound't be records. This wasn't a mistake d…
I think both interpretations are true. I think he did think they were so brilliant and novel that they could ignore the rules. I think it's reasonable and probably legally correct to interpret that as fraud (with self destructing messages being strong evidence of mens rea). I think he really didn't intend for things to go wrong. I think he probably thought "we're all gunnuh make it," or "(3,3)" as Levine describes it in today's Money Stuff. I think now that everything has collapsed, he's trying to weaponize his rationalizations to maneuver himself into a better position (nonspecifically, there's no plan he's just trying to see what kind of better position is possible. I provide some admittedly sparse evidence for that here [1]).
In order to lie convincingly, you must first lie to yourself. His method is a sort of "sincere bullshit." That excuses nothing but is necessary for a complete understanding of the story.
SBF wasn't an exit scammer, or he would left with the money much earlier. He wasn't a Madoff character, or he wouldn't have attracted so much attention. A better comparison is Holmes. They were both looking to build an empire and probably believed they would eventually make good on all or most of their promises. This is a really dangerous form of con artist, because they can take in everyone - the greedy who want to ride the hype, the optimists who want to implement the vision, the desperate who need to believe in something, we can all fall for this sort of thing.
IANAL