Sam Bankman-Fried: I Hope to Make Money to Pay People Back (bbc.com) 134
"Disgraced crypto boss Sam Bankman-Fried says he hopes to start a new business to make enough money to pay back victims of the FTX collapse," reports the BBC:
Speaking in a luxury complex in the Bahamas, the former billionaire denies fraud but says he was "not nearly as competent as I thought I was".... It is estimated that more than a million FTX users are locked out of their crypto wallets and cannot access their funds.
Mr Bankman-Fried invited the BBC to the residential complex in the Bahamas where he still lives and said he hopes to find a way to pay back FTX users. "I'm going to be thinking about how we can help the world and if users haven't gotten much back, I'm going to be thinking about what I can do for them. And I think at the very least I have a duty to FTX users to do right by them as best as I can," he told me.
Asked if he planned to start a new business venture to earn the money to pay investors back, he said: "I would give anything to be able to do that. And I'm going to try if I can."
Bankman-Friedman also said that while "ruminating at night," he also worries about being arrested.
Mr Bankman-Fried invited the BBC to the residential complex in the Bahamas where he still lives and said he hopes to find a way to pay back FTX users. "I'm going to be thinking about how we can help the world and if users haven't gotten much back, I'm going to be thinking about what I can do for them. And I think at the very least I have a duty to FTX users to do right by them as best as I can," he told me.
Asked if he planned to start a new business venture to earn the money to pay investors back, he said: "I would give anything to be able to do that. And I'm going to try if I can."
Bankman-Friedman also said that while "ruminating at night," he also worries about being arrested.
Lol. (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder how effective this will be from jail. I'm sure it's not another scam ... /s
Re:Lol. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Lol. (Score:5, Insightful)
He sounds so amazingly naive, even childlike. Ie, "I'll just make a few billion dollars, how hard can it be? After all I did it once, although I never cashed out on the funny money, it seems straight forward..." Also the naivete of continuing to talk, talk, talk, instead of shutting up like anyone under severe criminal investigation should do. "If I just say I'm sorry, the judge will forgive me, right?"
Patrick Boyle (Score:2)
does a great job explaining how "smart money" got scammed because Sam told them exactly what they wanted to hear. [youtube.com]
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I haven't seen anyone smart in crypto. Its the zoomer version of scratch off lotto tickets.
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Fine, but SBF is FKD. Jail time and a lifelong ruined reputation.
Stand behind those with moral positions and causes (Score:2)
It’s an act.
Its obviously heartfelt. With such a high minded and responsible outlook, he is truly a role model for modern corporate leadership and entrepreneurship. After all, we've learned that most traditional metrics of "success" are just manifestations of white supremacy, as are traditional accounting methods and practices which were developed to track the buying and selling of slaves and the stolen value of their work. That we should only stand behind those ideas and people who have moral positions on the issues a
Re:Lol. (Score:4, Insightful)
He sounds so amazingly naive, even childlike. Ie, "I'll just make a few billion dollars, how hard can it be? After all I did it once, although I never cashed out on the funny money, it seems straight forward..."
If he's truly sorry he could kickstart the repayments by selling his "luxury complex in the Bahamas".
(sound of crickets chirping)
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Assuming there are new investors willing to trust him again, or he will be left with enough capital left after all his court cases so that he can start something.
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Re: Lol. (Score:5, Insightful)
The definition of a ponzi scheme is using later investment funds to pay earlier investors - he is HOPING to start a new venture to pay-off his earlier investors...
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That only works within a singular scheme. Your definition of Ponzi (like everyone else who doesn't have a clue how they work specifically, or why they are specifically illegal) can again be applied to very innocuous activities, such as ... paying back literally any debt.
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Hey, I mean, my neighbors have plenty of lemons on their trees. I'm sure he can open a lemonade stand and get all of that money back in no time! LOL.
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Yeah, sure (Score:4, Funny)
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And Trump's gonna get to the bottom of Hillary's emails, build the wall, solve infrastructure, and propose a health care plane. And OJ's gonna find the killer.
I think this is more equivalent of "and Trumps going to make it up to Hillary for lying about her and ensure that she becomes the next president to make it up to her whilst persuading all the people on Slashdot I set against her that she's a good person really". Not only does it sound completely unconvincing, it's also completely outwith his power, out of character and just far far too late.
Re: Yeah, sure (Score:2)
Is it possible to discuss any current event without discussing Donald Trump?
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Is it possible to discuss any current event without discussing Donald Trump?
Nope. If we don't keep content focused on Trump something about Twitter revelations might creep into view. :-)
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Nope. If we don't keep content focused on Trump something about Twitter revelations might creep into view. :-)
Like what, that Musk is a gigantic piece of shit? I think we already knew that.
See, too much Trump focus makes a person ignorant. If you had been paying attention you would have seen the revelations about twitter employees acting in a highly political manner shadow banning conservatives and others (including doctors at Standford) who challenged official government positions. Using their jobs at twitter to exercise a personal agenda.
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I didn't say anything about Trump, that's all in your head.
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I didn't say anything about Trump, that's all in your head.
See rest of thread.
Also, too much Elon is a similar problem. The far left is so outraged by losing control of public debate Elon is now cast as a Trump-like villain.
Re: Yeah, sure (Score:2)
>Not while he's still inexplicably a free man.
Explicable because people generally aren't sent to prison simply because the corporate world, the media, the government, and a mob of NPCs don't like them. Due process is rather good.
Actually he did kinda figure out the border ... (Score:2)
... build the wall ...
Technically he did figure out a "wall" and did get Mexico to pay for it. The most effective thing he came up with was pressuring Mexico to put the Mexican army on the border.
I suppose the Wait in Mexico policy while your Asylum application is processed was pretty effective too.
Yeah yeah (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Yeah yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yeah yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly, if anything I want my tax dollars going towards more prosecution of corporate fraudsters like this. The fact that he is able to do this form his "residence in the Bahamas" says everything we need to know about how people need to feel consequences or the system breaks down.
Re:Yeah yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
The punishment doesn't need to be a prison cell that costs taxpayers $100 per day.
Instead, put an ankle tracker on him and have him spend 80 hours per week cleaning bedpans in a nursing home for the next 20 years.
For non-violent people, there are always better options than a prison cell.
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Yeah I never gave a prescription on how to sentence them but there needs to be consequences, it can't be nothing or just a fine. The point in a case like this is to deter future behavior.
In this case someone like SBF can probably be rehabilitated since he's not dumb but he needs to admit what he did and take his lumps for it or what does that say about us?
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With this in mind, I propose they sentence SBF to be taught economics until he gets a passing grade. Then, put him to work cleaning up the shit from FTX, under the thumb of John Ray, for the next decade or so.
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Instead, put an ankle tracker on him and have him spend 80 hours per week cleaning bedpans in a nursing home for the next 20 years.
How long until he has sweet-talked a bunch of old people out of their retirement savings?
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Sure, i never gave a prescription on sentence length, but the point is someone looking at SBF should have the feeling of "man, i better not do what he did, he got the law up his ass" not "well he's still rich and living free, just not as rich as he was before"
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The problem is that US sentencing is insanely excessive as well as arbitrary, so I hate the idea of subjecting anyone to our "injustice" system.
Why did Holmes get 10+ years while the Sacklers got zero time (I think the longest sentence that any of the associates got was 3 yrs probation)? Answer: Theranos fucked over a bunch of Wall Street fat cats, while the Sacklers screwed rural doctors and got working stiffs hooked on opiates.
I wish that the system were both more consistent, but also somewhat more lenie
Re:Yeah yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason the Sacklers got off without jail time is they coughed up 6 billion dollars, while Holmes shrugged her shoulders and tried to eyelash-flutter her way out of it. The problem is that the Sacklers made 10 billion in profits on Oxy. So, the fines and forfietures should have been 10-11 billion rather than 6. You,gotta take away ALL the $$$ they made for it to really hurt. The Sacklers should be looking back abd thinking “welp, that was a waste of 20 years”. As it stands, they get to keep a few billion. Not a lot of deterrent in that settlement.
Re: Yeah yeah (Score:2)
You take away all the money they gained. And then you calculate the opportunity cost of that in the market and add that to it.
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He didn't kill anyone, just separated some rich bastards from a bit of their ill-gotten gains.
You really don't know that. The "rich bastards" generally know about diversifying and go into things like crypto expecting to lose some. I bet most of them are barely out of pocket overall. OTOH, grandma Jones, that watched a crypto ad at the superbowl and had $5000 in savings she knew was evaporating with inflation and a computer she understood just well enough to be dangerous quite likely did put her whole savings into FTX. There are likely some people that will miss operations they needed but couldn't af
Re:Yeah yeah (Score:4, Interesting)
One of those "rich bastards" was a teachers' pension fund in Canada.
I know you want the World to be simple, but it's not. These things are never black and white and it's never just the rich bastards that suffer in these kinds of fraud.
Probably a lot of ordinary people have lost their life savings in this, just for the crime of being a bit stupid. People will die because not having money can be a killer, especially in the USA. So I would say, five years would be a mockery. Elizabeth Holmes got eleven and her partner thirteen. That's the ball park Bankman Fried should be looking at.
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Honestly, everyone you mention should get five -- but the Sacklers (whose actions clearly and demonstrably killed people) should get 15 or 20.
And it's a shame that we can't start imprisoning corrupt politicians (and their corporate sponsors) who keep voting down a proper safety net in the name of low taxes. "... can be a killer, especially in the USA." is a fixable problem, and the solution has very little to do with putting crypto scammers in prison.
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It's also false equivalence since the law isn't based on some kind of "what would a murderer get?" sc
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In the case you're describing the man can be prosecuted for fatally attacking someone. In fact, the charge will be upgraded to first-degree murder because it occurred during the commission of a crime.
The question of whether we are sufficiently punishing him for the lesser crime (theft) is beside the point.
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In other words, the "broken windows" theory: if you are vigilant about enforcing small crimes, people will get the idea that you're serious about law enforcement, and they won't progress to bigger crimes. (That, and you will catch crimes you would have otherwise missed. The guy you just stopped for jaywalking might have a concealed gun or an arrest warrant).
I get it, and I agree with it to an extent. I'm not a fan of the West Coast phenomenon of simply refusing to prosecute shoplifters. But you should a
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No it won't, but it will stop him from doing it again, which he will certainly do if he's allowed to get off without any serious ramifications.
Seems to me he's just admitted it was a ponzi scheme and he's hoping to continue it.
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There are likely some assets. He seems to be living very well, and while I'm sure recovering foreign assets in the names of other people (I gather family members) isn't easy, the US has a rather long arm in these regards. It's not likely enough to make anyone whole, but at least it's something. If we just let every scammer effectively get away with not only the crime, but suitcases of money to buy off the government of some nation without an extradition treaty, we effectively incentivize scams. Being locked
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Right, send a big signal that theft and fraud is inevitable and we'll only ever prosecute when we have a perfect society. All those FBI agents are also going to be put to work on the soup lines.
Re: Yeah yeah (Score:2)
How many hospitals, mass transit systems and public health initiatives can we fund with the annual savings of not hailing one man? In case you're wondering, the annual cost to incarcerate one prisoner is about $35K/year. [federalregister.gov]
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Gambling Addict? (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't this what every gambling addict tells themself?
Re:Gambling Addict? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Sure, I know I owe the mob boss a million dollars, but just give me a chance to pull that slot machine lever one last time, win money from the mob, and then use that to pay back the.. mob.. hmm...
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Isn't this what every gambling addict tells themself?
Yes but in this case you're equating gambling and addiction with life. When I lost my previous job I swore I'll get a new one so I could pay my mortgage. I guarantee you however I am in no way addicted to working.
Speaking from a jail cell? ... (Score:2)
... hopefully real soon, which I'm guessing is on the cards for this guy.
There's NO way he can claim he didn't know what was going down, he just put the blinkers on and went for a wild ride.
Sure, sure you didn't ... /s
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Re: Speaking from a jail cell? ... (Score:2)
It costs $35K/year to incarcerate a prisoner, not really a meaningful amount in the grand scheme of public transport or public healthcare or education.
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Make money? (Score:2)
What happened to all the money you made while scamming people? If you're at a luxury resort in the Bahams giving an interview, where did that money come from?
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$300 million of it was spent on real estate... mostly mansions and beachfront vacation properties for Bankman-Fried and other senior FTX executives.
Re: Make money? (Score:2)
It worked for BLM, but at a smaller scale.
Re: Make money? (Score:2)
Most of it was lost on incredibly risky investments.
The best deal on the table is you going to jail fo (Score:2)
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Re: The best deal on the table is you going to ja (Score:2)
Speaking in a luxury complex in the Bahamas ... (Score:2)
Speaking in a luxury complex in the Bahamas, the former billionaire denies fraud but says he was "not nearly as competent as I thought I was".
That's what scientists call the Dunning-Kruger effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]–Kruger_effect.
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The alternative is that this "fraternity crypto bro" persona he's created hides an actual con artist who created a Ponzi scheme to bilk investors. By putting on the whole "aw geez shucks, I guess I was kinda stupid there", he's hoping to convince a whole lot of people that his malfeasance had no criminal intent. I don't think he's stupid. In fact, I think he's a pretty bright guy, and he behaved exactly like all these Ponzi guys behaved; skimming vast sums from the idiots they scammed to live the high life.
Ponzi 2.0 (Score:5, Informative)
1. Start a company and commit fraud
2. Apologize for all the fraud
3. Start a new company and get money to pay back the people from Step 1
4 Repeat steps 1 through 3 as needed.
Once a joke always a joke (Score:2)
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Meh. So he partied it up by stealing from those who were already mostly filthy rich.
Meanwhile, the Sacklers got lower-class working Joes hooked on opiates en masse and haven't spent so much as an hour in prison. American justice only works if the people being stolen from or conned are already wealthy.
Re: Once a joke always a joke (Score:2)
The Sacklers didn't write prescriptions, doctors did.
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Just give him the seed money so he can buy twitter...
15 minutes is up (Score:2)
Some people fell down the stairs on their chainsaw (Score:2)
Easy Peasy! (Score:2)
Let me guess, a new crytpo exhange? (Score:2)
Think harder Sam (Score:2)
Speaking in a luxury complex in the Bahamas ... ...
Mr Bankman-Fried invited the BBC to the residential complex in the Bahamas where he still lives
"I'm going to be thinking about how we can help the world and if users haven't gotten much back,
I'm going to be thinking about what I can do for them.
He could start by selling his "luxury residential complex in the Bahamas" ...
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But that won't make as much money as selling his crocodile tears to gullible marks.
Perhaps he can get work using those for a certain former US President ...
In other words.... (Score:2)
I will be interested to see (Score:2)
...whether the Democratic politicians who benefited from his largesse are going to lift a finger to keep him out of jail.
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https://www.huffpost.com/entry... [huffpost.com]
A campaign finance watchdog has accused Sam Bankman-Fried, the ex-CEO of FTX, of flouting federal election law by using dark money groups to conceal millions in campaign donations to Republicans during the 2022 primary campaign. Bankman-Fried was the CEO of the massive cryptocurrency exchange FTX until November when the company abruptly imploded and filed for bankruptcy. Multiple U.S. regulatory agencies are now investigating Bankman-Fried, 30, who presented himself as a grown-up in the unregulated cryptocurrency world, and the claims that his companies misused billions in customers’ money. In a complaint to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) cited a November interview between Bankman-Fried and YouTuber Tiffany Fong, in which Bankman-Fried claimed to be “the second or third biggest Republican donor this year.” Bankman-Fried is widely known to have donated roughly $37 million to Democratic candidates in 2022. But in the interview, he claimed to have donated “about the same amount” to Republicans. He said he did it anonymously because he anticipated a backlash if his ties to the GOP became public.
SBF still living in Albany? (Score:2)
How is it that SBF is still allowed to live in the FTX-owned penthouse?
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Probably so he will be happy, talk, and implicate himself in the crime.
Translation: I need to Ponzi (Score:2)
So he needs to make money back to pay people back. What's the chances that's really code for "I need to scam new people so I can pay the old people back", or one of the very definitions of a Ponzi scheme?
Sure, he'll pay you back, by scamming someone else to give him the money he needs. (also known as the greater fool theory).
yeah right (Score:2)
That sounds like a Ponzi scheme with extra steps. (Score:2)
Anyone who gives this joker money at this point deserves what happens to them.
Ready for another scam ? (Score:2)
Dumb and Dumber...? (Score:2)
So... (Score:2)
Bankman-Friedman also said that while "ruminating at night," he also worries about being arrested.
That explains it. He's a ruminant.
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Re:while "ruminating at night" (Score:4, Interesting)
If I were the police, I would be in no hurry to arrest this guy. He is so happy to talk, eventually he is going to say something that completely implicates himself as guilty.