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Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

nytimes.com

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Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#691

Post by kuhewa »

skriticos2 wrote: post #675
berniedurfee wrote: post #670

So what’s the final outcome? A long prison sentence or a few years hanging out on appeal followed by a few years in a low security federal penitentiary and a long career doing speaking engagements and appearances? Holmes got 9 years, but her actions had severe real world effects on people. Is that the ceiling for SBF?

This is just the conviction. Sentencing is sometime end of March next year. But considering that he was found guilty on all accounts and after the mess he was making during the trial, his sentence will most likely be no good news for him. He is also kind of being made an example of to encourage more due diligence in the industry. Being bad at business is one thing, but handling billions without basic risk management…

> but handling billions without basic risk management is basically gambling with customer funds

He actively gambled with customer funds, not just basically did because of poor institutional controls.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#692

Post by kuhewa »

berniedurfee wrote: post #670

So what’s the final outcome? A long prison sentence or a few years hanging out on appeal followed by a few years in a low security federal penitentiary and a long career doing speaking engagements and appearances? Holmes got 9 years, but her actions had severe real world effects on people. Is that the ceiling for SBF?

I don't know what the maximum would be in sentencing guidelines for her, but for SBF, afaik it is life. That would be an ugly sentence, but I imagine he's going to be away for significantly longer than Holmes.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#693

Post by zelphirkalt »

mejutoco wrote: post #612
shever73 wrote: post #589

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there really is such a thing as a person with a lot of book-learning but less common sense than a sea slug I don't even think SBF had the book-learning, just intellectual arrogance. "I don’t want to say no book is ever worth reading, but I actually do believe something pretty close to that. I think, if you wrote a book, you f---ed up, and it should have been a six-paragraph blog post."

The craziest thing to me is that when he was saying things like that noone in the mainstream media was questioning him. The FT had a very flattering lunch interview with him shortly before his demise. It was embarrassing how they were portraying him.

It is mainstream culture to not question (at least temporarily) financially successful businessmen. Financial success in the eyes of many must mean, that they are doing something right. But that "something" quickly is left out and the conclusion becomes "doing all things right". Basically ethics is supplanted by how capitalism works.

It is not brought up too often, that often one of the most important differences between them and the viewer of mainstream media is, that this person is vastly more ruthless with regards to ethics.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#694

Post by dang »

bistro wrote: post #154

Is this the actual article? It looks like some live twitter-style thread with a bunch a random updates.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38122190. (Nothing wrong with your comment, I just want to save space at the top of the page.)

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#695

Post by RandomLensman »

the_black_hand wrote: post #593
randycupertino wrote: post #320

I liked the article detailing how poorly he did on the stand: https://www.thefp.com/p/humiliating-cross-examination-sam-ba... “Did you say in private, ‘Fuck regulators?’ ” “Did you call some customers ‘dumb motherfuckers?’ ” “Did you fly to the Super Bowl in a private plane?” “Most FTX customers did not have a line of credit, correct?” “Do you deny that Alameda had a $65 billion line of credit?” And on, and on, and o…

> You’d think this MIT graduate would wise up, but he never did I don't think it's lack of wisdom but rather pathological hubris and a God-Complex. I've met kids like SBF at MIT. Very smart but at some point they think the rules don't apply to them. The've never failed before so why would they start now. After all, he was like the youngest billionaire, rich parents, good grades, top schools. Everything has gone his w…

What would be the incentive for anyone to pull strings for him?

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#696

Post by shin_lao »

berniedurfee wrote: post #670

So what’s the final outcome? A long prison sentence or a few years hanging out on appeal followed by a few years in a low security federal penitentiary and a long career doing speaking engagements and appearances? Holmes got 9 years, but her actions had severe real world effects on people. Is that the ceiling for SBF?

Both are sociopaths, but SBF didn't have the intelligence to act as if he was sorry for what he did.

He's never going out of jail in his life. Sentencing is expected to be harsh, remember he had his bailed revoked for witness tempering!

On top of that, he's been convicted on 7 counts, but there's another trial in March 2024 for other felonies. He will spend the rest of his life between prison and the tribunal.

Both his parents are likely to be sentenced to jail as well.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#697

Post by hoofhearted »

skriticos2 wrote: post #675
berniedurfee wrote: post #670

So what’s the final outcome? A long prison sentence or a few years hanging out on appeal followed by a few years in a low security federal penitentiary and a long career doing speaking engagements and appearances? Holmes got 9 years, but her actions had severe real world effects on people. Is that the ceiling for SBF?

This is just the conviction. Sentencing is sometime end of March next year. But considering that he was found guilty on all accounts and after the mess he was making during the trial, his sentence will most likely be no good news for him. He is also kind of being made an example of to encourage more due diligence in the industry. Being bad at business is one thing, but handling billions without basic risk management…

I agree.

I believe the evidence in this trial will support a civil trial against him showing that he pierced the corporate veil, and that he was personally tied to FTX with some of his purchases with company funds.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#698

Post by lordfrito »

bengale wrote: post #683
berniedurfee wrote: post #670

So what’s the final outcome? A long prison sentence or a few years hanging out on appeal followed by a few years in a low security federal penitentiary and a long career doing speaking engagements and appearances? Holmes got 9 years, but her actions had severe real world effects on people. Is that the ceiling for SBF?

> Holmes got 9 years, but her actions had severe real world effects on people. My understanding is she was convicted for financial bits, not harming people.

No different than Al Capone being convicted for tax fraud. Real people got hurt in both cases.

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#699

Post by RandomLensman »

paganel wrote: post #584
hintymad wrote: post #243

I was reading the trial report by Inner City Press. The AUSAs were incredibly thorough and strategic. The evidences were air-tight, the cross-examination was masterfully controlled with precision and incisiveness, and of course the closing argument was forceful. It was a great joy to read the report, as if I was watching an extended episode of The Good Fight. On the other hand, the defense was really weak, quite hand…

> on political donation, Fact is, this could have helped him and his company, eventually. Another two or three years of very sympathetic (bought) politicians on his side and his business could have become legit as a result of those politicians forcing the liquidation/closure of almost all SBF's competitors (certainly Binance would have become bust), and the US "standing behind" FTX as a beloved crypto assed in the fi…

How would that pawn angle have worked? Politicians forced lending backdoors and random number generators into production code?

Re: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted

#700

Post by TeMPOraL »

arethuza wrote: post #645
randycupertino wrote: post #320

I liked the article detailing how poorly he did on the stand: https://www.thefp.com/p/humiliating-cross-examination-sam-ba... “Did you say in private, ‘Fuck regulators?’ ” “Did you call some customers ‘dumb motherfuckers?’ ” “Did you fly to the Super Bowl in a private plane?” “Most FTX customers did not have a line of credit, correct?” “Do you deny that Alameda had a $65 billion line of credit?” And on, and on, and o…

I believe a very basic rule-of-thumb for lawyers in court is to don't ask witnesses questions you don't already know the answer to. Edit: I remember my wife telling me this during her time as an Advocate's Devil.

> Advocate's Devil

What does such role/job entail? It sounds like being a drill sergeant on a lawyers' boot camp.

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