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The United States of America vs. Samuel Bankman-Fried Indictment [pdf]

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Re: The United States of America vs. Samuel Bankman-Fried Indictment [pdf]

#71

How anyone could look at this man's behavior over the last few weeks and not think he was on a fast track to a federal penitentiary is beyond me. A word to the unwise: If you have done something, anything, that you have a credible reason to believe the United States government thinks is illegal, shut up . Do not do any of the following: * Go on a podcast and talk about it * Go on a Twitter livestream and talk about i…

People keep saying this, but honestly, does anyone really think it makes one iota of difference?

Fact is that there is a huge paper trail of SBF's malfeasance, nevermind the fact that his co-conspirators appear to be turning against him. If anything, his interviews seemed to be his attempt to argue for negligence over malice in his case.

Yes, SBF is going to prison for a long time. No, I don't think anyone has made a viable argument that his interviews over the past few weeks are likely to make his sentence worse.

Re: The United States of America vs. Samuel Bankman-Fried Indictment [pdf]

#72
post #67

> "did transmit and cause to be transmitted by wire, radio, and television communication" Note to self: Remember to use only free-space lightwave communications to avoid committing wire fraud. Edit: Removed "fiber" because it looks too much like a wire and avoid being busted by outside1234!

RFC-1149 is the only safe way to commit fraud. https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1149

[deleted]

Re: The United States of America vs. Samuel Bankman-Fried Indictment [pdf]

#73

How anyone could look at this man's behavior over the last few weeks and not think he was on a fast track to a federal penitentiary is beyond me. A word to the unwise: If you have done something, anything, that you have a credible reason to believe the United States government thinks is illegal, shut up . Do not do any of the following: * Go on a podcast and talk about it * Go on a Twitter livestream and talk about i…

People keep saying this, but honestly, does anyone really think it makes one iota of difference? Fact is that there is a huge paper trail of SBF's malfeasance, nevermind the fact that his co-conspirators appear to be turning against him. If anything, his interviews seemed to be his attempt to argue for negligence over malice in his case. Yes, SBF is going to prison for a long time. No, I don't think anyone has made a…

Hard to say how much difference it would make but why would you give your opponent a freebie?

Re: The United States of America vs. Samuel Bankman-Fried Indictment [pdf]

#74
post #40

> "did transmit and cause to be transmitted by wire, radio, and television communication" Note to self: Remember to use only free-space lightwave communications to avoid committing wire fraud. Edit: Removed "fiber" because it looks too much like a wire and avoid being busted by outside1234!

Aren't light waves and radio waves the same phenomenon at different wavelengths?

radio is a narrow range of frequencies of light; a subset of light. there's a technicality in there that could still work.

Re: The United States of America vs. Samuel Bankman-Fried Indictment [pdf]

#75
post #6

It should be noted that SBF is facing 165 years in prison.

I thought it was standard federal prosecution practice to put up huge potential sentencing numbers, then negotiate downwards in hopes of securing a swift process, and therefore the initial indictment-implied sentencing number carries very little context?

It’s not even a negotiation tactic, the defendants lawyers know the sentencing guidelines. It’s a news release tactic.

Re: The United States of America vs. Samuel Bankman-Fried Indictment [pdf]

#76

How anyone could look at this man's behavior over the last few weeks and not think he was on a fast track to a federal penitentiary is beyond me. A word to the unwise: If you have done something, anything, that you have a credible reason to believe the United States government thinks is illegal, shut up . Do not do any of the following: * Go on a podcast and talk about it * Go on a Twitter livestream and talk about i…

No kidding. If my business had lost billions of dollars belonging to other people, I would only be talking to a small army of lawyers. This guy acted like he had a deathwish.

Re: The United States of America vs. Samuel Bankman-Fried Indictment [pdf]

#77

How anyone could look at this man's behavior over the last few weeks and not think he was on a fast track to a federal penitentiary is beyond me. A word to the unwise: If you have done something, anything, that you have a credible reason to believe the United States government thinks is illegal, shut up . Do not do any of the following: * Go on a podcast and talk about it * Go on a Twitter livestream and talk about i…

SBF is quite obviously on the spectrum and I think that has a lot to do with his inability to use "No comment".

Re: The United States of America vs. Samuel Bankman-Fried Indictment [pdf]

#78
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Knowing how connected the guy is, I'm guessing he'll only serve a few years at most. I sincerely hope I'm mistaken.

Being extraordinarily connected did not help Madoff much: he was sentenced to 150 years in prison and died there last year.

The cynic in me says that it really does matter who you defraud. Where Madoff went wrong was ripping off other rich people. So, if SBF defrauded more upper- than middle- or working-class folks, then he's screwed.

Re: The United States of America vs. Samuel Bankman-Fried Indictment [pdf]

#79

How anyone could look at this man's behavior over the last few weeks and not think he was on a fast track to a federal penitentiary is beyond me. A word to the unwise: If you have done something, anything, that you have a credible reason to believe the United States government thinks is illegal, shut up . Do not do any of the following: * Go on a podcast and talk about it * Go on a Twitter livestream and talk about i…

People keep saying this, but honestly, does anyone really think it makes one iota of difference? Fact is that there is a huge paper trail of SBF's malfeasance, nevermind the fact that his co-conspirators appear to be turning against him. If anything, his interviews seemed to be his attempt to argue for negligence over malice in his case. Yes, SBF is going to prison for a long time. No, I don't think anyone has made a…

I think it does make a difference. It's effectively taunting the prosecutors, who will find ways to retaliate. So prison time either way, but likely more than if he had shut up.

Re: The United States of America vs. Samuel Bankman-Fried Indictment [pdf]

#80

So 4 counts on wire fraud and then also commodities fraud, securities fraud, money laundering and campaign finance laws. For the moment, if we set aside whether these will be proven, how bad does a stack of charges like this look for him if they are proven?

From a quick google search (not promising this is 100% accurate, but I searched for sentencing minimums) 1) Wire fraud: 121-151 months 2) Securities fraud: 6-36 months base (there are multipliers apparently) 3) money laundering: 70 month average is all I could find 4) Campaign finance: seems to be more monetary based Not sure how a plea deal/severity of charges would change this though. Ex: when you are committing bi…

Fraud is a 2b1.1 crime, so the sentence scales with the "losses" to the victims; you can get +30 levels off that alone, which catapults the sentence into double digits.
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