Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Breaking Open Thread: SBF Found Guilty On All Charges

Breaking Open Thread: SBF Found Guilty On All Charges

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Per CNBC, “Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all seven criminal fraud counts”:

A jury has found Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of all seven criminal counts against him. The former FTX CEO faces a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison.

Bankman-Fried, the 31-year old son of two Stanford legal scholars and graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud against FTX customers and against Alameda Research lenders, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit commodities fraud against FTX investors, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He had pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The trial, which began in early October, pitted the testimony of Bankman-Fried’s former close friends and top lieutenants against the sworn statements of their former boss and ex-roommate. The jury returned a swift verdict after receiving the case at around 3:15 p.m. on Thursday and breaking for dinner at around 6 p.m…

The central question for jurors to consider was whether Bankman-Fried acted with criminal intent in taking customer funds from FTX and using that money to pay for real estate, venture investments, corporate sponsorships, political donations and to cover losses at Alameda.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos told the court in his closing argument on Wednesday, there was “no serious dispute” that $10 billion in customer money that was sitting in FTX’s crypto exchange went missing. The issue, he said, is whether Bankman-Fried knew that taking the money was wrong.

“The defendant schemed and lied to get money, which he spent,” Roos said.

In the absence of a successful appeal, Bankman-Fried now awaits sentencing…

Reader Interactions

73Comments

  2. 2.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Reupped from below: Just remember from the Jan 6 convictions that the theoretical maximum sentences are almost never what the actual sentence looks like.

  5. 5.

    piratedan

    ty Pitchbot!  who knew that business fraud was the gateway to admittance to that exclusive club?

    I fully expect there to be opines in the not too distant future that “he’s just a kid” and detailed op-ed about how we’re not jailing enough kids who operate lemonade stands without a business license

  11. 11.

    CaseyL

    I hope the verdict has Trump (also on trial for fraud, albeit a different type of fraud) shitting his pants.

    ETA: And isn’t there a lawsuit floating around against Musk for misleading investors?

  12. 12.

    Chetan Murthy

    @hells littlest angel: As a utilitiarian [and, after all, that’s what EA claims to be all about], I firmly believe that throwing he book at this waste of protoplasm will produce the greatest amount of pleasure over pain, in that it will do the greatest to dissuade other great fraudsters who would hurt many innocent people.

    As a Kantian I can make the rule that great criminals are subjected to great punishments into universal law without quavering in the slightest.

  16. 16.

    Captain C

    Maybe he’ll appeal on the grounds of incompetent legal representation:  “Your Honor, my attorneys committed malpractice by not ducktaping me up and throwing me in a closet when I demanded to testify in my own defense.  It’s in the California Bar Law that they have to do that.  I heard about it while in the K-Hole with those lying a$$holes who turned on me.  I’m sure you know how to use Google to look it up…”

  17. 17.

    Neal

    Will he be incarcerated until sentencing? Until the appeal? Heck, he was at his parent’s house chilling on the sofa until he made things so bad the judge had to send him to jail.

    He is a rich white dude after all and the legal system and many wouldn’t want to see him too discomfitted…

    A few years probation, 1000 hours of community service, a good gig on CNBC, a book tour, and back into the establishment no?

    He will be out and still young so apart from the Big House chow selection he won’t be too worse for the wear.

  23. 23.

    Chip Daniels

    In the series Get Shorty there was a hilarious running bit where Chris O’Dowd and Ray Romano jointly break the law to cover up a drug deal; Chris O’Dowd’s street character gets sent to San Quentin while Ray Romano’s studio producer character gets to go to a prison which is indistinguishable from a resort spa.

    Bottom line; I don’t think SBF needs to worry about getting shanked in the yard,  just having his tennis court privileges revoked.

  27. 27.

    Warblewarble

    Nothing , not even a jury could resist SBF’s power to persuade and he persuaded them that he was a lying bag of shit.

  29. 29.

    Suzanne

    I can hear the anguished sobs of crypto-bros from sea to shining sea.

    Seriously, though… that was fast.

  35. 35.

    Shana

    So despite all his intentions to use his massive amount of money for “effective altruism” did he ever, when he was supposedly worth $30billion (?), give any money or just blow it on stupid Super Bowl ads and trying to buy politicians. And a big chunk of the Bahamas.

  38. 38.

    Tony Jay

    “But Your Honor, a custodial sentence could adversely affect our dear boy’s bright future as an in-demand expert on cryptocurrency speculation and the many, many ways that a jury system involving peons in matters they couldn’t possibly understand brings harm to better educated stock.”

    “Here’s hoping.”

  40. 40.

    MattF

    @Shana: Good question. If the path to a morally positive universe can only be followed by an amoral, narcissistic shitbag like SBF, then ethics has a big problem.

  42. 42.

    SpaceUnit

    Crazy how fast one can go from smartest person in the room to the dumbest.

     

    I’m thinking of writing a Greek tragedy in which a young SBF is told by the oracle that he will be rich beyond his wildest dreams.

  45. 45.

    japa21

    IANAL, but I am assuming that the 115 years is based on all sentences being served consecutively, whereas I would guess they will do a concurrent type of sentencing. So I am going with 16.5 years.

  46. 46.

    japa21

    I wonder how the ML umpires feel about having worn the FTX logo on their uniforms for the 22 season.

  47. 47.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Shana: I can’t even manage to be snarky in a reply about how he was amassing the gazillions so he could save billions of lives in the far future, etc, etc, etc ad nauseaum.

    @MattF: I remember back in my moral philosophy class with Prof. Temkin, back freshman year in … 1982 …. that we discussed the ways that various moral systems could be gamed.  It was a long time ago, so I don’t remember many of the other ones, but I *do* remember Kantianism.  And I was always convinced that Kantianism was a superior moral system to Utilitarianism.  By which I mean, that it is …. *less* susceptible to these sorts of “doesn’t matter what happens to really-existing humans here-and-now: we’re focused on the notional humans who’ll exist in a gazillion years”.

    But to your real point (I think): ethics is like all systems of humans: it can be gamed.  Everything depends on humans refusing to allow the spirit of the rules being violated, on humans insisting that norms be preserved.

  49. 49.

    Chetan Murthy

    @SpaceUnit:

    What if the norms are the problem?

    Well, as my moral phil prof pointed out, *everything* can be gamed if you’re sufficiently bad-faith.  I no longer remember the details, but basically for every moral system, for every facet of that system, you can devise a cheat-code that facially abides by the rules of that system.  The only thing for it, is to have people of good faith stand in the way.

    I mean, it’s like mafiosos committing heinous crimes, then going to church and confessing, getting absolution.  It’s a cheat-code, and when the church allows it, it’s showing that it’s no better than any other human-devised system of morality: and for sure not devised by some higher being.

  50. 50.

    Tony Jay

    @geg6:

    It’s amazing what you can get people to open up about if you call them up and accidentally give the impression you’re a BBC tech-journalist just distraught about how Sammy-Bee is being treated.

    Or so I’ve heard.

  51. 51.

    SpaceUnit

    @Chetan Murthy:

    I guess I was thinking bigger.  Things like slavery or aristocracy, patriarchy or theocracy.  These are moral systems that require no gaming whatsoever to become abominations.

    ETA:  Or cheating.

  52. 52.

    Mel

    Imagine what his high school teachers had to endure, dealing with that entitled, grasping, gaslighting little weasel.

    Worse still, imagine the delights of a parent-teacher conference with the two that created the monster…

  55. 55.

    Ken

    Molly White, who I’ve found reliable (and snarky, always a bonus), reports that sentencing won’t be until March, but also that he’s been returned to MDC Brooklyn. No word if he stays there until sentenced.

  56. 56.

    mrmoshpotato

    @japa21:

    I wonder how the ML umpires feel about having worn the FTX logo on their uniforms for the 22 season. 

    Waiting for crypto.ass to go belly up.  Didn’t they fork over 20 million for that arena’s naming rights?

  59. 59.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Ken: I don’t get this “in six months we’ll pronounce sentence” crap if there’s not a need for the jury to determine sentence.  Can’t they just do it the next day and clear the calendar?

  62. 62.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Chetan Murthy:

    but basically for every moral system, for every facet of that system, you can devise a cheat-code that facially abides by the rules of that system.  The only thing for it, is to have people of good faith stand in the way.

    Man, game good faith and you’ve really got it made!

  63. 63.

    Marc

    @Mel: Imagine what his high school teachers had to endure, dealing with that entitled, grasping, gaslighting little weasel.

    He went to an elite prep school in the Bay Area, I’m sure his teachers were quite used to dealing with entitled weasels.

  64. 64.

    wjca

    @Marc: He went to an elite prep school in the Bay Area, I’m sure his teachers were quite used to dealing with entitled weasels.

    And likely got paid especially well for dealing with them.  Because otherwise why work around such people?

  68. 68.

    bjacques

    A colossal injustice has been done! Now humanity will never evolve into machine elves! Won’t anyone think of the machine elves?

  70. 70.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Good riddance to bad rubbish.

    ETA: Good, now we can stop hearing about this mofo.

    And the saga of Sham Bankster-Fraud sinks in the sea like a stone. How à propos.

  71. 71.

    PaulWartenberg

    I haven’t seen anything from reliable sources if the feds ever found out where those billions disappeared to. Was any of it recovered? If SBF didn’t end up with all of it, who did?

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