Does the S in SBF stand for sociopath? Bloomberg reports: "Sam Bankman-Fried came up with a lot of ideas to rehabilitate his image and launch a new crypto exchange after FTX went into bankruptcy. Bankman-Fried thought he might “Go on Tucker Carlson, come out as a republican;” “Come out against the woke agenda;” tell people the team running his bankrupt former company “has no idea how to run FTX;” tell people he’s “really glad” the bankruptcy team stepped in and “they’re great.”" He's about as anti-woke as he is woke. There seems to be no narrative he will not consider selling to manipulate observers. Given that he was in the business of selling an asset class based purely on narratives, it should come as no surprise that he regarded his trial similarly as an exercise of marketing a suitable narrative regardless of whether it is true. "In a Google document, which prosecutors attached to a court filing seeking to put Bankman-Fried behind bars for as long as 50 years, the fallen crypto king considered having author Michael Lewis interview him on TV, asking people what to do in a Twitter poll and leaking a document to the press. ... Prosecutors said the Google document helps show that Bankman-Fried is “motivated to launch his redemption narrative” and possibly defraud investors in the future." For future criminals considering a narrative defence, perhaps don't store your conflicting narratives on Google docs? 🤔 And perhaps don't especially label them like SBF? "Applying the maxim that there are no bad ideas in a brainstorm, Bankman-Fried headlined the document: “Note: these are all random probably bad ideas that aren’t vetted; CONFIDENTIAL.”" 🤦🏻 It's probably not a good idea to include a bunch of inconsistent defences in a document. Even if one of them were true, how likely do you think a jury is to believe in it? And an all caps confidential only emphasises you have something to hide. The question remains: how long will the modern idiot Machiavelli spend behind bars? Prosecutors are asking for 50 years (https://lnkd.in/g5RUWTTZ), but I wonder if we should simply slap on an extra 10 for sheer stupidity?
Joanna Kornas
11mo
50 years... a really funny punishment, considering what he has done. By the way, I'm wondering how Elizabeth Holmes is doing. She's in jail but as far as I understood it's a cosy nice place and she could even go out once in a while.
Dr Fred J.
11mo
If he means joining the party of disgruntled financial fraudsters with a funny haircut, sounds about right!
Iain Jones KC
11mo
After reading Michael Lewis ‘ s book I think that SBFs version of ‘ brilliant ‘ autism possibly ( I would say probably myself) had him place those 250,000 crypto trades a day without any malicious intent Haven’t they in fact recovered/ found the $8.8 billion If so , then why lock him up for 60 years He was seriously misguided to keep talking like he did , and then give stupid evidence , but for myself again I think that’s just part of his syndrome
Iain Jones KC
11mo
Interesting isn’t it that Lewis Kaplan , Trumps favourite judge found that SBF did breach the law deliberately, that he doesn’t accept that the $8.8 b is still out there , and came hard on SBF for lying in the witness box US doesn’t go the rehabilitation route as much as Britain and AUS Sure there is a need for punishment, specific and general deterrence but SBF could be banned from markets for life
Roderick Mann
11mo
Narcissism is a virus that kills our humility cells. Selfishness is the virus that kills the virtues character, honesty and integrity. This quiet pandemic is every bit as serious as the Covid pandemic. As love for others grows cold, it's increasingly every man for himself and damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, just go for it.
Andy W.
11mo
Fair guess is that if SBF ever sees the inside of a prison cell for actual time and not just holding time, unless he's kept in solitary he won't survive 50 years in there. I've zero doubt that he's made very powerful enemies, and I won't put it past them to put a bounty on his head in prison.
Anton Manes
11mo
“S” for sucker, as he was used by the system without knowing he would be left with the consequences.
Axel C.
11mo
Kelvin Low this is actually genius and I foresee a great career for this young gentleman. The first step is to write an Amazon best seller, get Netflix to buy the rights, then go on a whistlestop tour of key States after appearing on a few popular late-night shows. After a year or two, you can get invited to some key fundraisers, get some photos shaking hands of some friendly public figures and build on top of you rehabilitated image. Within 5 years, he should be perfectly poised to succeed in politics.
Nicholas Clarke
11mo
He’s just another human. We all make mistakes. He was just trying to side with the team that he could camouflage with better.
Poor home-training? 😆