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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

#451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or he could end up like Michael Milken, who went to jail for securities fraud but became known as a philanthropist. As Gandalf once said to Frodo, Pity? It's a pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. [0] [0] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7374580…

A philanthropist with the money he stole? His entire fortune is fruit of the poisoned tree. Milken is trash. He was in the 80s, and he is trash in the 20s. No amount of philanthropy washing can erase the damage his done. Fuck that guy.

I mean, the damage is done. Let's not condemn him for at least doing good now. Would you rather he did nothing at all?

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

#452
post #262

SBF was a top political donor in Washington. I expect a pardon by the end of this year.

Well, he gave just as much to the other side, why would the sitting president be inclined to pardon him as some kind of favor? Especially in an election year. That would be political suicide. Won't happen. He has a much better shot if there is a new guy in the hot seat in 2025. But even then I'd say it's pretty remote.

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

#453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or he could end up like Michael Milken, who went to jail for securities fraud but became known as a philanthropist. As Gandalf once said to Frodo, Pity? It's a pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. [0] [0] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7374580…

A philanthropist with the money he stole? His entire fortune is fruit of the poisoned tree. Milken is trash. He was in the 80s, and he is trash in the 20s. No amount of philanthropy washing can erase the damage his done. Fuck that guy.

Milken spent less than two years in prison, and was fined $600 million.

SBF has been sentenced for 25 years, and fined $11 billion. Pretty big difference - how much money does he have left?

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

#454
post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intent has a lot to do with it. SBF operated with forethought and malice. He intended to deceive people. He was trying to commit fraud. Hometown guy did not intend to crash or kill anybody. Now the results of hometown guy's actions were more direct and severe, but had he had the choice, he would not have crashed and killed anybody. He's not a criminal, just a fucking idiot.

> SBF operated with forethought and malice. And hometown guy accidentally got behind the wheel of a car while drunk?

A well-known effect of alcohol intoxication is cognitive impairment.

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

#455
post #200

It's wild that 99% of the "point" of crypto and a Bahamas-based exchange was to avoid all the laws around securities trading, banking, money transferring (anti-money laundering, taxes, etc), etc and yet when things go south, people still expect the government to come in and enforce a tiny subset of the financial laws they've otherwise been operating outside of. This is a weird form of "privatize the profits, socializ…

Yeah, I agree. This should fall under “caveat emptor”. Everyone using unregulated exchanges (which IMO should be an option for everyone) should recognize that they are subject to additional risks (and benefits). The government shouldn’t outlaw free climbing either. It’s your own fault if you treat a bunch of foolish kids with millions of dollars the same way you would an onshore FDIC-insured regulated bank. Canada Bi…

Climbing pedant checking in. I think the type of climbing you're referring to is free-solo, that is climbing alone with no partner or protection from falling. "Free climbing" is climbing using only hands and feet for upward progression but typically involves the use of protection (gear, ropes, and a partner) to save you in the event of a fall. It's called "free" because the climber does not use metal tools, hooks, pitons, or bolts for upward progression like in aid, ice, or alpine climbing.

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

#456

It's funny. I lost tens of thousands of dollars thanks to this individual, yet his sentence brings me no joy or arouses any emotion at all. I'm utterly indifferent to his fate for some reason and I don't know why. Yet if he had been a mugger who stole a much smaller amount of money from me on the street, I think I would've been far more vengeful. Should I feel vindictive? Or is it healthy to forget about it and move…

It is _obviously_ healthy to forget about it and move on. Having said that, any anger at the guy is going to be not because he effected any one person, but because he effected so many - and because he embodied a particular attitude in the cryptocurrency world that lives on in so many others who haven't yet had their luck run out.

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

#457
post #317

From the article, SBF will likely be out in 2036, at the age of 45. There’s a good chance he’ll get himself into shenanigans again, if not already from inside prison.

I do enjoy the idea that he'll create a prison super economy based on promissory notes for ramen packets and cigarettes that are tracked in some sort of hand-written block chain kept under their bunk bed and shared between toilet water pipes. Or maybe he'll just start making yogurt. https://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/yoghurt-mafia-unexp...

US prison currency is mack:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-mackerel-fi...

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

#458
post #317

From the article, SBF will likely be out in 2036, at the age of 45. There’s a good chance he’ll get himself into shenanigans again, if not already from inside prison.

It also means his co-conspirators will get a much lesser sentence (if any). Kind of disappointing that nobody else will see the inside of a prison cell. Ellison, Wang, Singh and SBF's parents all deserve lengthy sentences.

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

#459

It's funny. I lost tens of thousands of dollars thanks to this individual, yet his sentence brings me no joy or arouses any emotion at all. I'm utterly indifferent to his fate for some reason and I don't know why. Yet if he had been a mugger who stole a much smaller amount of money from me on the street, I think I would've been far more vengeful. Should I feel vindictive? Or is it healthy to forget about it and move…

Perhaps previous exit scams in the crypto space dulled your senses?

If anything, I feel like you should share your story to protect others, especially during times when crypto is peaking (like now) and others are tempted to jump in: use exchanges to buy/sell and get out, store your keys on a cold storage device, and transfer out fiat ASAP.

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

#460
post #276

An uncle once commented about a cousin of ours that he demonstrated how it's possible to screw things up so badly that you can't possibly recover. I think that's true for Sam. I hope it's not true for the people in his orbit; I hope they can get out from under this and try to find meaning, ideally from repairing the harm they've done. As Rick Heicklen writes, "We are not ever going to be Sam. But we could be Caroline…

FWIW, I didn't find Lewis's book as bad (or amoral) as it's often made out to be. Yes, he didn't put his judgement in every paragraph, but his description of SBF was: a) absolutely damning! SBF's lack of empathy, his notion that (given that everyone else is stupid) he knew best and should basically ignore the advice of everyone else (particularly his elders), his naive utilitarianism without any deontological/virtue…

I think I read that Lewis was almost finished with the book, which was about to come out, and which was highly pro-SBF, when the FTX scandal Broke? So he then had to quickly revise and "save" the book by changing the tone in view of the FTX scandal? If so, it's probably an unusual book in view of the last hour rewrites.
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