SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities • Hacker News Board

Re: SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities

#811

Post by acdha » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 1:54 PM UTC

fullshark wrote: post #337

woeirua wrote: post #262

This is good for Crypto. Seriously. Because SBF is probably going to help the US make their case against Binance and that will flush out all the bad actors. Many coins will go to zero. The entire ecosystem will wither and die, but if Crypto survives it will be because there is some fundamental value to it besides digital beanie babies.

Illegal transactions and money laundering isn't going to disappear. A generation of engineers obsessed with crypto will not suddenly stop caring even if a bunch of coins go to zero. The potential prize (control of a global currency/commodity) at the cost of just writing a bunch of code is too potentially lucrative to make people stop trying.

When speculators were pouring billions into the field, it wasn’t a surprise that a lot of engineers went after high pay checks and the chance of even greater returns on speculative vehicles. The easy money drying up is going to shrink their number a lot, however – especially since the traditional finance sector is building the things people actually use. The number of people using inappropriate architectures is going to plummet when there isn’t a personal financial incentive from their use.

Re: SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities

#812

Post by alwayslikethis » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 1:56 PM UTC

throwaway290 wrote: post #756

alwayslikethis wrote: post #712

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To take your bitcoin (or monero) they will actually have to show up to your door with weapons. This is much more expensive and prone to failure for the government or other authorities than simply freezing your assets on a bank. Note: I am aware that they can blacklist bitcoins and trace them nearly perfect nowadays, which can make them somewhat useless even if you still own them. With Monero, this is made far more di…

So by that logic monero is a perfect laundering mechanism? If a criminal (ransomware/kidnapper/bloody kleptodictator) simply exchanges dirty money through monero then law enforcement can't prove anything to stop them, so they can create a comfortable life for themselves while continuing the crime right?

It would be, if it were to be widely accepted for things other than drugs or other illegal services. At current adoption levels, the liquidity is enough for some small scale illegal fund transfer or some drug trade, but not nearly enough for big money laundering operations (good luck cashing out $100M worth of monero without tanking the price).

Re: SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities

#813

Post by acdha » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 2:02 PM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #650

acdha wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He’s the latest example of why many RPGs have separate stats for intelligence and wisdom. He’s clearly not stupid but his lawyers must be sitting at their desks sobbing “stop giving interviews!”

> He’s clearly not stupid but his lawyers must be sitting at their desks sobbing “stop giving interviews!” TBH I don't think the interviews hurt him much, and I think more than likely they are a strategy trying to reduce his culpability. The common thread among all his interviews is "I'm really sorry for being such an idiot", basically trying to play stupid to make it difficult to prove intent.

I’d look at it from the other direction: how does an interview help him? Nothing he says is going to keep him out of a courtroom and he’ll have time to present his version there, so I’m not seeing any upside to potentially saying something which the prosecution can use, find a lead from, or simply point to as evidence of duplicity — immediately pivoting from “I’m a genius who’ll stabilize this out of control field” to “I had no idea what was going on and ignored my staff” just days after being caught is going to be a hard sell.

Re: SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities

#814

Post by michaelt » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 2:07 PM UTC

vba616 wrote: post #484

CydeWeys wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Plus, prosecuting her may not even look all that good, for identity politics reasons. Strongly disagree with this. Look at how they threw the book at Elizabeth Holmes (vs, say, Adam Neumann, or any other male founder from the last decade plus). If anything women have been getting it harder.

>vs, say, Adam Neumann I can't think of a reason offhand to compare her to Neumann and not Sunny Balwani. Can you explain further?

Neumann scammed chump investors out of a bunch of money in ways that were legal, but would have been illegal at a publicly traded company.

For example, selling some of his wework shares, buying office buildings, then leasing the buildings back to wework at above-market rates. Registering the 'We' trademark for himself then selling it to wework. That would be illegal due to being a conflict of interest, were the company publicly traded - but it wasn't.

(There was also drug use and sexual assault claims)

Re: SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities

#815

Post by siftrics » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 2:13 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #733

siftrics wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Incorporating a company in another country and abiding by its rules and regulations is not and should not, in and of itself, be considered "evasion" of US regulation. 2. The US has refused to draft clear legislation regarding how to operate a crypto company in the US, effectively forcing all interested parties to take the route described in point 1.

New York State licenses crypto companies.[1] There's a list of the licensed companies on that page. It includes Gemini and Coinbase. A crypto company could set itself up as a stock broker/dealer. Robinhood has done that. There's clear legislation. It's just that the marginal players don't like it. They wouldn't get past the initial requirements. [1] https://www.dfs.ny.gov/virtual_currency_businesses

Permissionless protocols are essentially outlawed, which defeats the purpose of building on chain.

Re: SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities

#816

Post by uxp100 » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 2:19 PM UTC

shapefrog wrote: post #779

wmil wrote: post #765

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the cocktail of designer stimulants he took every day had some effect on it.

Half (probably 3/4) of silicon valley is on the same cocktail... also popular in schools, college campus, law, banking, politics and even recent presidents had the same cocktail of pills ...

That’s not true even if you think he was just taking Adderall, but there was also that picture with Selegiline patches on his desk…

Re: SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities

#817

Post by mbreese » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 2:20 PM UTC

iudqnolq wrote: post #795

mbreese wrote: post #640

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where would they have gotten the full records? Or been able to know where to look in the records? Forensic accounting takes time (even if the records are as bad as alleged). To me, this suggests someone on the inside helping to build a case. Federal cases can take years to build because they are usually very thorough. Going from collapse of the company to extradition request in the course of weeks seems really fast t…

> Where would they have gotten the full records? Or been able to know where to look in the records? Bankruptcy procedings. Subpoenas. The standard ways the FBI gets records from regular companies run by people who aren't criminals and don't want to become one (the current CEO is a regular business person).

All of that takes time. Subpoenas can be fought. Bankruptcy cases take time, and I’m not sure that prosecutors would get unfettered access to bankruptcy filings (unless/until the presiding judge thought it was relevant).

But either way, these things take more time than what has passed thus far. I’m not saying that a case couldn’t have been made without an internal informant — just that it happening so quickly makes me suspect that someone (who was high up) flipped.

Re: SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities

#818

Post by rosnd » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 2:28 PM UTC

PLenz wrote: post #343

jonwachob91 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you don't need to pass through passport control to get on a boat. You can walk to any beach and get on a dingy that takes you to a larger boat.

He was being followed. The minute he boarded a boat the USCG would be enroute with a cutter to intradict and perform a thorough safety inspection in international waters, perfectly in line with their law enforement and maritime safety duties.

So, a seaplane then? SBF could presumably even afford to bring in a decent submarine, assuming he hadn't lost access to his money.

Re: SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities

#819

Post by Kye » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 2:45 PM UTC

siftrics wrote: post #528

maxbond wrote: post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about we create better systems for refugees to gain access to safety and citizenship instead of consigning them to a rickety shadow financial system? Are you putting this much energy into, say, opposing border walls and supporting marginalized communities?

Yes, I think borders violate basic human rights and needlessly destroy lives and families. Your argument that crypto is consuming too much opportunity cost is completely valid. But why fight against something that offers hope for the misfortunate?

>> "But why fight against something that offers hope for the misfortunate?"

I mean, context. That's what the Nazis rose to power on: giving hope to a people that felt robbed after WWI. Just because a person or a technology offers hope doesn't mean it can deliver.

Re: SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities

#820

Post by shapefrog » Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 2:46 PM UTC

throwaway2037 wrote: post #805

shapefrog wrote: post #787

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FTX's Board of Directors actually consisted of just one person: the controlling shareholder, Mr. Bankman-Fried

The last press release I could find is here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ftx-us-derivatives-... FTX US had (at least) nine board members. FTX International (non-US entity) was private, as I understand, and essentially unregulated, so who cares about the board.

FTX US is a subsidary of FTX int. The board of FTX US has no power to do anything to parent co or other subsidaries of parent co. FTX US was/is also a private company.