SBF Considered Paying Trump $5 Billion Not To Run For President (cnbc.com) 173
MacKenzie Sigalos writes via CNBC: Sam Bankman-Fried, the alleged crypto criminal who stands accused of masterminding one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history, was considering paying Donald Trump $5 billion not to run for president, according to best-selling author Michael Lewis. In an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" that aired on Sunday, Lewis said the FTX founder wanted to put a stop to a Trump White House run in 2024 over fears that the former president was a threat to democracy. Lewis traces the rise and fall of the crypto entrepreneur in his latest book, "Going Infinite," which comes out on Tuesday, the same day Bankman-Fried's first criminal trial gets underway in New York.
"Sam's thinking, 'We could pay Donald Trump not to run for president. Like, how much would it take?'" Lewis said. "He did get an answer. He was floated -- there was a number that was kicking around. And the number that was kicking around when I was talking to Sam about this was $5 billion. Sam was not sure that number came directly from Trump." According to Lewis, Bankman-Fried's ambition to derail Trump's presidential campaign ultimately went nowhere, in part because he wasn't sure if his proposal was legal. Also, his crypto empire imploded in November 2022, wiping out Bankman-Fried's billions of dollars of wealth.
"Sam's thinking, 'We could pay Donald Trump not to run for president. Like, how much would it take?'" Lewis said. "He did get an answer. He was floated -- there was a number that was kicking around. And the number that was kicking around when I was talking to Sam about this was $5 billion. Sam was not sure that number came directly from Trump." According to Lewis, Bankman-Fried's ambition to derail Trump's presidential campaign ultimately went nowhere, in part because he wasn't sure if his proposal was legal. Also, his crypto empire imploded in November 2022, wiping out Bankman-Fried's billions of dollars of wealth.
Financial Frauds Need To Stick Together! (Score:5, Insightful)
One fraudster was going to pay the other fraudster with pretend money from his fake wealth. That's got to be the best scenario that I've ever heard of, such a shame that his timing sucked so badly.
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AKA He supported the uniparty.
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Fitting, slimeballs need to stick together.
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Wasn't he the biggest personal donor to the democratic party? It's hard to keep up with all the things Sam did.
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I was going to say that SBF didn't have $5 billion to pay. But then he could just claim it's a standard business practice to overinflate the value of your holdings. It would be good if all the idiots just hung out together so that they were easily identifiable. Oh wait... the House of Representatives... never mind.
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“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” - Mark Twain
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One fraudster was going to pay the other fraudster with pretend money from his fake wealth. That's got to be the best scenario that I've ever heard of, such a shame that his timing sucked so badly.
Never would have happened and if the offer was made you can bet that trump would have used it to his advantage showing that one of the Democrats biggest financial supporters and by that connection the Democrats themselves wanted him out of the race. BTW why are the democrats so afraid of Trump? I'm not in the USA so I don't get all the nuances of the US News it seems to be Foxnews vs all the other channels
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I'd be more concerned that a former and potential future president has financial problems severe enough to make him vulnerably to this kind of buy-off. It's one thing to pay him not to run, but if he gets back in he will be vulnerable to bribery and blackmail.
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Re:Financial Frauds Need To Stick Together! (Score:5, Funny)
Hey guys, we got a true fanboi here!
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*Woosh*
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ChatGPT spam
Re:Financial Frauds Need To Stick Together! (Score:4, Insightful)
If you think pointing out that your comments are simply generated, is an attack on you, there is nothing to talk about
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"It's in part a new kind of secure system, you can't hack it like they'd hack your PC. "
There have already been a bunch of phishing or hacking scenarios, sometimes by the very programmers involved in a coin issue or exchange in which millions of dollars of coins were stolen. So to call it a "secure" system is laughable.
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People making the real money - as in money and not crypto fluff, are those using cryptocurrency to fleece other people, using crypto for money laundering, etc. But actual wealth? I don't think so, it's not real money until you cash it in.
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But actual wealth? I don't think so, it's not real money until you cash it in.
By that logic, gold and treasury bonds aren't actual wealth either.
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Treasury bonds are valuable precisely because the government has such a good record of always letting you cash it in at the stated value. Gold is valuable because people have always had uses for it that make them willing to pay for it. Nobody has ever had a use for crypto in itself unexchanged, and it's not backed by a government or anyone else you can rely on to give you a fixed exchange rate.
Everyone has a good side (Score:2)
Pol pot for example, was well versed in French literature.
Re:Everyone has a good side (Score:5, Funny)
So what's his good side?
He isn't wrong (Score:2, Insightful)
Considering the con artist's former Chief of Staff is now on the record confirming multiple stories [cnn.com] about the egregious behavior during that time, I'm not sure $5 billion would have been enough to quench the narcissism.
One thing is certain. That amount would be far in excess of what the con artist claims he's worth.
What I like about guys like John Kelly (Score:4, Informative)
Every last one of these ghouls loved Trump and everything he did. They didn't turn on him until Trump lost the election.
The GOP is like the mob. You're only good as your last envelope.
Re:What I like about guys like John Kelly (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes and no. In some cases people have said that they stayed on to try and prevent worse damage. Here is Kelly's take [taskandpurpose.com] on why he was there and what his defenders say he accomplished. I've seen similar stories, such as from Anonymous, where even though they didn't want to stay, they did so if only to protect the country by undermining the deranged criminal.
I've heard that and I call bullshit (Score:2)
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I don't believe that defense of trying to prevent damage. They were the former alleged president's enablers. I wouldn't trust one of them further than I could spit a two-headed rat.
Re:What I like about guys like John Kelly (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't like when people say "turn on him" really. Because it implies, in a way that Trump approves of, that the highest morality is loyalty to Trump the person. Loyalty to the office, or the country, or the citizens, or the constitution, is bad in Trump's world view. About the only thing Trump cares about is loyalty to himself, just like a wannabe dictator. (the rest of of Trump cares about are TV ratings, which I think adds up to 100% of what he cares about in the world)
You can see it in how Trump criticizes former administration members - it's always about them being disloyal, or being overrated. People wanted someone who'd run the country like they ran a business - well that's what they got, an egomanic CEO of a family owned business who bad mouths all his children (aka, employees) any chance he gets, a CEO who defrauds banks and investors, and a CEO whose primary job skill is lying. Guess what - running a country like you run a business is a very stupid idea.
Compare to Abraham Lincoln - the first Republican president. He gathered a coalition of people who disagreed with him, because Lincoln wanted different viewpoints. He was allied with groups he personally disliked (the No-Nothings, whom this decade's GOP seems to emulate most closely), because he needed to create a coalition. Lincoln never asked for personal loyalty from his cabinet and allies. Lincoln was the oppose of a mafia don, and the opposite of Trump.
That's the only morality (Score:2)
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People wanted someone who'd run the country like they ran a business - well that's what they got, an egomanic CEO of a family owned business who bad mouths all his children (aka, employees) any chance he gets, a CEO who defrauds banks and investors, and a CEO whose primary job skill is lying.
People wanted someone who would run the country like a *successful* business. Trump was never a successful businessperson [newyorker.com]. His businesses pretty consistently lost money. If anything, you could argue that he ran his businesses like we run our government.
Guess what - running a country like you run a business is a very stupid idea.
No, it really isn't. The problem is that your definition of "run a business" isn't the same as the definition used by people who say things like that. :-)
We absolutely need someone who will run the country like a business. Wasteful spending is out of con
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I don't like when people say "turn on him" really.
It's accurate, they knew he was a shitheel from the start. Everyone knows Donald peeps on teen pageant contestants, doesn't pay contractors, his businesses are frauds, etc. Some people are just in favor of that shit. They say everyone is a cheat, and he's just a smart businessman. They say that because they are cheats, and see everything through the lens of themselves.
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I don't like when people say "turn on him" really. Because it implies, in a way that Trump approves of, that the highest morality is loyalty to Trump the person. Loyalty to the office, or the country, or the citizens, or the constitution, is bad in Trump's world view. About the only thing Trump cares about is loyalty to himself, just like a wannabe dictator. (the rest of of Trump cares about are TV ratings, which I think adds up to 100% of what he cares about in the world)
When most people read that Trump has claimed someone "turned on him"... We think about rats desperately trying to escape a sinking ship.
Trump doesn't hold an image of morality for all but the utterly insane cult members. Same goes for honesty, integrity, reliability, intelligence and competence.
It's funny watching him and his cult rage as the senior rats turn on him... I said from the beginning that any investigation into Trump would have to be treated as an investigation into organised crime as that
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is how he kept his mouth shut until he had a book to sell.
But why wouldn't you? For the most part people working for someone who have put them in a position of power or provide them financial income publicly endorse their employer / powerful buddy. Not doing so would be corporate suicide. This applies to John Kelly. It applies to the cleaner who does the toilets in your office building for minimum wage. "I love my employer and my job" they will say right until the moment they resign. Why did they resign? "it was a horrible job".
The only difference here is people a
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During the 2016 presidential campaign, the former alleged president claimed he was worth $10 Billion:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politi... [nbcnews.com]
Even if he had accepted the $5 Billion, he'd have reneged on the deal because he figures becoming president again is his Get Out of Jail Free card.
FTX Considered More Bribery, Story at 11 (Score:4, Informative)
https://www.marketwatch.com/st... [marketwatch.com]
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Since he had run out of Democrats to bribe, why not go for a Republican?
Might I remind you that didn't exactly work out so well for Disney. Some Republican politicians will gladly take your money and then still do that thing you didn't want them to do, like uh, dissolve your special tax district. Oops.
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Good for the Rs. Bout time somebody did that to the donors.
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Have they no respect for tradition? The traditions say that a bought politician is supposed to stay bought.
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Have they no respect for tradition? The traditions say that a bought politician is supposed to stay bought.
That's not even close to correct. A bought politician only stays bought until somebody comes to them with more money. Then they become bought again.
If the Man is So Easy to Beat (Score:3, Insightful)
Then why not just win the election instead of trying to avoid it?
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The DNC won't let anyone who has an actual chance to win run, I think they **like** to be the party out of power. They can give the corporations everything they want and then tell voters, "We want to do all these great things for you, but the meanies on the other side of the aisle won't let us!"
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The DNC won't let anyone who has an actual chance to win run
How many times did they let Bernie run? At some point you just have to accept that it's really the fault of the voters, and possibly our lack of ranked choice voting (but I've got a hunch it's still... the voters).
Re:If the Man is So Easy to Beat (Score:5, Informative)
The DNC moved heaven and earth twice to make sure Sanders didn't get the nomination. It was pretty well documented and commented upon over at Naked Capitalism.
Re:If the Man is So Easy to Beat (Score:4, Insightful)
The DNC never particularly liked Bernie.
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And Bernie paid them back by not backing Hillary, that's how we got the former alleged president.
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And Bernie was an independent until he realized he couldn't make a plausible run for the presidency that way. So why should the DNC like him?
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I think you're confused about who bows to corporations.
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No, I'm pretty clear that it's both sides, Brainwashington is an equal opportunity hive of scum and villainy.
democracy (Score:5, Insightful)
>"over fears that the former president was a threat to democracy. "
Right, because paying off people to run or not run is very pro-democracy.
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Right, because paying off people to run or not run is very pro-democracy.
Or, for example, buying a social media platform for $44 billion because you feel it leans too far to the left. Something, something, oligarchy.
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If Don or anyone is that easy to buy off, then they shouldn't be prez anyhow.
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because paying off people to run or not run is very pro-democracy.
It sure isn't, but it IS a perfect reflection of the influence of money on politics.
won't work, nor should it (Score:2)
Of course, at the current time, Xi is working to make sure that Biden/Harris stay in.
This way, both Russia and China can not lose.
Not good for Dems (Score:3, Interesting)
If Don is not the GOP's nominee, then Nikki Haley would probably be the nominee, and she'd probably win over Joe, who is dogged by age-related perceptions.
Nikki would make the SCOTUS even GOPier, shoving yet more religion down our throats and up our giblets. (I'm not convinced DeSantis could beat Joe; he lacks charisma, and doesn't score well with centrists & business.)
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What makes you think Haley is the heir apparent? Not that I'd mind, but the current polls don't show that as being a probable outcome.
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Right now, everyone who isn't Trump is are basically polling with the margin of error with everyone else. I don't think Haley will make it in personally, as she once displayed characteristics of a vertibrate. DeSantis is suitable invertibrate but he's so much like a flatworm that even Florida Man avoids him. Nobody outside of Florida want the rest of the country to become like Florida.
But it's irrelevant, the primaries right now are all about jockeying to get a cabinet position in the kleptocracy.
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The brass ring they're all trying for is the VP slot. Between his age and his diet it's increasingly likely that whoever is VP will end up president. For that matter both Haley and DeSantis have old ties to mercenary groups, Rump might not survive his first week in office.
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Doesn't seem likely that anyone would assassinate Trump in the White House. If anyone wanted him dead they would have snuffed him already.
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I don't understand why so many bitch that Biden is too old and instead look to Trump. But if Trump is reelected then he will be exactly the same age Biden was when he became president. Do the Trumpists not realize that Trump is old? I know it's too much to expect some logical consistency, but you'd think they'd try to hide their ignorance like any self respecting ignorant would do.
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Age is just a catch-all for Biden's cognitive decline, frailty, and other maladies. The issue isn't literally his age per se, it's his age-related issues.
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Eh?
https://www.usatoday.com/story... [usatoday.com]
Seems like plenty of people keep moving there. It would seem that lots of Americans want the US to be like Florida.
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Polling has EVERY GOP candidate beating Biden in a general election - except Christie, IIRC.
I can see why this never materialized (Score:2)
I assume Trump would insist on real dollars, not that pretend money SBF is "rich" with.
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Or take the money and then run anyway.
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I assume Trump would insist on real dollars, not that pretend money SBF is "rich" with.
Exactly this. There never was five Billion dollars. It was always a ponzi from day one. SBF would have insisted on paying with some NFT or alternate crypto-currency he created out of thin air.
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He could offer to pay in TrumpCoin, currently worth $0.001866.
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SBF version of 'legal' (Score:3)
...Bankman-Fried's ambition to derail Trump's presidential campaign ultimately went nowhere, in part because he wasn't sure if his proposal was legal.
Legalities was his concern? Because that multi-billion dollar Bahamian crypto orgy scam he was running to become the second largest donor to one of the most powerful political parties on the planet was totally legal, right?
To call him a fucking moron, is an insult to fucking morons.
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This was a drug-fueled fantasy, and I can't believe anyone takes this seriously.
Honestly, a pot head tells his pot head friends he should buy off a presidential candidate with a huge pile money he'll steal from his customers,and you guys act like it's serious.
How, at a practical level, would SBF get his hands on $5BN in real currency (not crypto), how would he transfer it secretly, and why would Trump accept it? Does he need the money? Seriously? What could he do with a secret infusion of $5BN? He can't spe
I'm no fan of Trump, but (Score:5, Insightful)
If America wants to send him back to the White House, clearly this country is getting the leadership it deserves. Again.
Re:I'm no fan of Trump, but (Score:5, Insightful)
To quote the late George Carlin:
Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. Fuck Hope.
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He was wrong about these being the best we have to offer. We don't elect the best ones most of the time. Obviously. He's not wrong about them being elected by American citizens, though. And he's not wrong about it being the fault of the populace, who elected the same people who dumbed them down by attacking their education systems.
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George Carlin was incredibly insightful, but on this one, he was dead wrong.
Politicians, the ones that actually control stuff, come from one class of people. Their experiences are not anything like the common person's experience. Politicians are "one of us" only in that they are physically human and just as prone to error as any other human; otherwise, their experiences make them completely different... and not in a good way. They are not as connected to the 'realities of life' because they are utterly exem
Horse Feathers (Score:2, Interesting)
> low inflation
WTF would Don do to lower inflation? Trade-wars? Those jack it up. It was low in 2020 due to the pandemic shutdowns (which were mostly state-managed, not Fed).
> energy independence
What does that mean exactly? Oil is and has been sold on the world market and world prices. Unless you mean nationalize or forbid exports, we are at OPEC's whim. Don even begged OPEC to make prices favorable during his reign.
If you mean drilling, US oil output is currently at the *same* level it was under Don.
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Inflation was relatively flat from 2017-2019. Best thing his administration could be credited for in that time period was to encourage energy production.
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US oil production has only a minor effect on our gas prices because it's sold on a global market.
Uh, suspending production reduces supply, driving prices up.
Biden has been cancelling exploration & drilling everywhere he could, he has done nothing to increase production, unless you want to consider selling strategic petroleum reserves as "production"
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> low inflation
WTF would Don do to lower inflation? Trade-wars? Those jack it up. It was low in 2020 due to the pandemic shutdowns (which were mostly state-managed, not Fed).
We're already in the equivalent of a huge trade war with a massive commodity supplier. All he'd have to do to lower inflation is simply stop the silly sanctions that Biden implemented and convinced our allies to go along with. Biden can't stop them without looking like a clown, but anyone who beats him can hang the blame on Biden and look like a hero for fixing them. Sure you'll get some pro-Ukraine squeaky wheels that will complain, but once the financial situation starts to correct and prove the preside
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Don even begged OPEC to make prices favorable during his reig
You do remember when Biden begged the Saudis to pump more oil, and when they told him to go pound sand he released 1M bbl/day for 180 days from the strategic reserve to help him in the mid-terms, now Biden can't restore the strategic reserves because oil is too expensive, right?
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/p... [pbs.org]
He also asked OPEC to delay production cuts until after the mid-term elections:
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/1... [cnbc.com]
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You're right about all that stuff.
Trump and Biden are both good friends to Big Oil.
As long as we can all be adults about it and admit they're both bad for America, we can move forwards.
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Meh the news media didn't improve under Trump. If anything they're slowly being embarrassed into doing their jobs by Biden.
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and a lower taxes
Ah, another Libertardian. Goods and services cost money, in the case of those provided by government that money comes from taxes. Do you want decent roads, functioning sewers, and breathable air? Those all cost money, you can't have the Magical Mystical Free Market Fairy wave her wand and expect them to magically appear.
Lies and Bullshit (Score:2)
Don't trust these people.
Trump had a big rally in Ohio pre-announcing his run and gave an annoucement date several days before CZ even exposed the FTX fraud and noticed the Binance divestment which then caused the 'bank run' on FTX.
The liar thinks we can't pull up NYT articles to check the dates to see that what he claims is impossible.
But the whole organization was a political money laundering operation so nobody should be surprised that a political operative is lying.
Or that a journalist would skip basic
Who cares? (Score:2)
At least a few million people thought about the same exact idea. I would have offered ten billion, so my proposal was better than SBF. In addition to offering twice as much, I also am not a fradulent crypto criminal like SBF.
How does this crap make the news?
I volunteer as tribute! (Score:2)
I will gladly forego a chance to run for president in exchange for five billion!
Common (Score:2)
Let's face it; we've all considered it at some point.
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If I was willing and able to pay $5B to convince Trump not to run, I would probably be smart enough to pay a hell of a lot less to have his campaign fatally sabotaged.
Hell, for a fraction of that I could have him assassinated... but honestly it'd be far more satisfying to pay off any Republicans who are still protecting him and watch the ensuing feeding frenzy take care of whatever the courts didn't. And then keep proof of those payoffs so I'd be able to send the MAGAs after those bought Republicans if the
taking bets (Score:2)
Call me antiquated (Score:2)
But i think someone literally using his billions of dollars to stop someone from running is probably a bigger threat to democracy than some orange Dragon ball Z Mr.Satan
Not enough (Score:2)
There's only one thing Donald Trump loves more than money: power. He upholds exactly one principle: loyalty to Donald Trump above all else. You do *not* be disloyal to Donald Trump, or you are scum of the earth. Nothing else matters.
Sounds reasonable (Score:2)
Many times I've thought there must be 1,000 people with $1,000,000 who could pool their money and buy him off. Please do it.
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Can't Democrats just find a candidate whose qualifications for President is more than just "well, he isn't trump!"? I mean seriously, Joe Biden is the only candidate that can beat Trump? There's literally no one in the party that can do a better job?
Why? (Score:2)
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But who are you going to contract? Rump used to launder money for a lot of organized crime and mercenary groups, you'd have to be careful not to try to contract with one of his customers.
Re:a Hitman (Score:5, Funny)
But who are you going to contract?
Uber Eats.
Just keep sending him free hamberders until nature takes its course.
Re: Roi (Score:2)
Only if it works. Trump might take the money and run (for office).
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If Trump was smart he would threaten to run again in 4 years, and rake in anther 5B.
Five every four years works out to a pretty good hourly rate.
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IDK, I can be convinced not to run for president for 0.1% of that much.
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Biden has long been much more a friend to the financial industry than to taxpayers, he was called 'The Senator from MasterCard' on the floor of Congress. As much as anyone he's responsible for the chaotic state of the financial industry today, having been one of the organizers to repeal banking regulations in the US in the 1990s.
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