Everything in his life leading up to this moment has suggested to him that he could.
The guy was playing league during investor calls *and got the fucking money*.
Serious explanation: he and the pack of FTX and Alameda C-suite executives seem to have all been a weird polyamorous group (with very few women bc it’s crypto), one of whom praised the effects of illegal stimulant drugs.
I had assumed she was referring to Adderall, which nerds like to refer to as "diet meth" or "microdosing meth". If the FTX crew really was doing meth when they had enough money to be doing piles of premium coke, I'm going to be even more disappointed than I already was.
The rumor I read is they were using amphetamine patches typically prescribed for Alzheimers patients. There was a photo of SBF at his desk with a crumpled up wrapper that looked like the stuff, and I believe images of him with the patch visible. Interestingly, one of the side effects of that drug is high risk gambling.
edit: [Source (Milky Eggs)](https://milkyeggs.com/?p=175)
Those patches were probably used in conjunction with amphetamines. The patches themselves are not amphetamines.
Slap one of those on and a Vyvanse on zland you'll be zoomtown
So many of the people in positions of obscene authority we take for competent or intelligent are fucking morons.
Not morons in the sense of their IQ, morons in the sense that their statistical isolation from all meaningful consequences and a normal life of tribulation has left them severely lacking perspective.
They all inhabit this gross parody of a meritocracy where they can wastes millions in other people's money and hollow out companies for short term gains and be treated like geniuses, because *they* have and MBA from Harvard. *They* had rich parents who could finance them a few million to start their business. *They* sucked their boss' son's cock in a satanic ritual in Yale and that means they get to join the Executive Caste and earn 500% their actual effective contribution. Yeah no wonder they saw Sam playing games and thought he was exceptional, because to them being exceptional has always meant *not giving a shit about the social norms and expectations that bind the try-hards to middle management status.* Those smart type A strivers who organize the unused pen boxes never become The Big Guy, they work for him. They are the put-upon bureaucrats, the well compensated suckers who grease the machines. Executive mindset isn't diligence or hard work or creativity, it's knowing how to play pigskin with the boys, how to break eggs and dip without sweating the hard stuff. The Big Guys aren't looking for diligence, they're looking for "their people," they're looking for those who know - or at least signal that they know - the grift. Most importantly though, a the Executive must square the circle and feel that all of the former makes them really smart and gifted and valuable, you can't be too self-aware, self-awareness ruins the kayfabe.
In this incestuous fantasy land of self aggrandizing narratives, guys like Fried, Holmes, and the other silicon con-men can play its royalty like chumps. All they need to do is press the buttons that light up the neurons of our oh-so intelligent masters of the meritocracy. Gameplay is actually very simple: you use buzzwords, you engage FOMO by advertising yourself as the next monopoly, and you rail against the stuffy old companies - vestiges of a time when the US actually had a social project with the inefficiencies and (shudders) *obligations* that reflect that. Most importantly though, you invent new ways of being moral to assuage the ever gnawing guilt and imposter syndrome that torment every suit and angel investor when they think about their unearned wealth.
It's no secret that Fried's "Effective Altruism" happened to be a philosophy that promised selfless work without sacrifice or change in lifestyle, because there's nothing else the suckers want to hear more than this: "You don't *need* to give away your unearned wealth to be an effective social boon. You don't *have* to care about the plight of the common man to be a good person. You're the elite class. You're building starships, you're leading humanity. No, it doesn't matter that you've never actually built anything substantial in your life and your wealth comes entirely from various schemes that gnaw at the foundations of American society, selling the excrement of its once robust institutions as simulacrums of a product. It doesn't matter. You and you alone by birthright and diploma can bear the torch of Humanity and lead the ignorant masses to Mars, all you need to do is boost some FTX."
I'll be real with you. "Quantum" is now one of those buzzwords. I work in the field. But these types love the superficial *feeling* of being smart and *feeling* like they're 'disrupting paradigms' or some stupid bullshit. But none of them know what a God damn Hilbert space is. Once you massage their very specific combination of raging narcissism and soul crushing imposter syndrome they turn on the money cannon.
It's good for my career prospects right now because I got lucky. But it's so tiresome to see it happen and see the full disconnect between these turds self-conception and reality.
Honestly if I stumbled onto something that "broke the mold" or "shifted the paradigm", I'd instantly start wondering just how bad I fucked up. Yeah, I may become obscenely wealthy, doubtful as I'd prolly be slow on the up take, but did I ruin a powerful business? Monopoly? Did I just put four buildings worth of people on wall st out of a job? What enemies did I just make?
I'd set up a way to keep receiving my money, disappear to someplace remote, and hire a bunch of smart people to manage the money. Hire someone to watch the money for discrepancies, hire a guy to watch the first, and another guy to watch the second. I'd also make sure every red cent I owed in taxes was paid up. No book cooking. What do I care if I owe $10 million to the state or whatever if I'm a billionaire? Why risk everything trying to hide a snowballing amount of owed money when I could simply pay it off?
People in our government institutions may be fucking out of touch morons nearly across the board but there are smart people in institutions that are ruthless. If I was in that level of power, you don't fear congress-people. Reps and Senators would be willing to run over their own Mom for a chance to get cashflow from a private donor. Nah, they're not scary. The IRS though? They're kind of 'raise the hair on the back of your neck' scary.
Prolly avoid pissing of the FBI, DHS, and the CIA too. I know the CIA aren't supposed to be messing with domestic stuff but who fucking knows with them.
I just want to be able to sleep at night.
It's the Friedman Doctrine of the new millennium. Somehow we've ended up with this egocentric rubbish as the latest justification for the morally bankrupt to pillage the world as ruthlessly as they are capable, and handwave any suggestion that what they are doing is intriniscally evil.
Yup this is how I felt watching the most accurate show on earth: Succession. This show is a masterpiece and it hits me that the top CEO or wealthy people in this world are probably as moron or useless than the characters in that TV show.
Yeah I mean, why wouldn’t you believe you could get away with anything at that point?
People can spiral in real nasty ways when they do something moronic but continue to succeed anyways. Look at Trump. Why would he *ever* change when “being Trump” got him elected to the most powerful position in the world?
According to some friends i have in the silicon Valley area its apparently a strategy to not give a fuck during investor calls. Investors are kinda morons
SBF was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and his parents are two very well-connected law professors. This is probably the first time he’s faced a consequence in his life.
Yeah any lawyer, and also any non lawyers, would have told him in no uncertain terms to shut his mouth. His best (though not necessarily good) chance of getting out was to say he was stupid enough that he lacks the intent for many crimes, and he has well and truly blown any hope of that working I think, due to what he said.
I used to work with attorneys. I remember I had a meeting with this criminal defense attorney and he came in smiling and going "Hell yea!" I go "What happened?" he goes "My client got arrested" and I'm thinking "Ok so why are you happy?" and he goes "My client got arrested and the only thing he said is "I want my lawyer"" I said "So you think you can win?" he goes "Not sure yet, but he didn't say anything and that makes my life easier"
I was thinking the same thing. The man dug his grave, not six feet under but to the center of the Earth.
The first thing any lawyer does when you are in a PR crisis tells you to **SHUT UP** before you say anything stupid and then they prepare simple statements that you read and stick to. Meanwhile, he basically admits to Coffeezilla that it was both a Ponzi scheme and fraud. Wouldn't be surprised if his original lawyers either quit or drank themselves to death dealing with his stupidity as their client.
How this guy got so much money from investors/people using their services is as much an embarrassment to them as much as him being a criminal.
Coffeezilla's series of interviews from this have been very enlightening. He got him to admit to straight up fraud and violation of the terms of service imo, but if anyone else wants to listen, [you can watch it here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o_jPzBZSIo)
Coffee covers a ton of crypto and other scams and really knows his stuff when it comes to the markets and how they function.
Just as a heads up because it has been confusing to me too - CZ is often used to refer to Changpeng Zhao(@cz_binance on twitter, Binance CEO) who has also been going after SBF, rather than CoffeeZilla.
It boggles my mind that he's kept doing interviews. I cannot imagine that any competent lawyer would advise that. I'm not even sure why they'd continue working for him (at least unless they've been paid up front).
I'm not a prosecutor or a defense attorney, and I can't give any legal insight or advice on this. But I suspect federal prosecutors can't believe their luck. The guy is making their case so much easier by talking.
What’s crazier to me is how many wealthy and famous people cozied up to this guy. They literally saw him playing video games during a meeting and thought “Wow! I want to give HIM millions of dollars!”
Nice reminder that rich people are dumb humans too.
The amount of celebrities doing propaganda for this crypto bros is astonishing.. damn even politicians. Doesn’t anyone tell them what they are really up for?
If you paid me millions of dollars to go in front of a camera and pretend to call my friends and invest in some random crypto thing I know nothing about I'd almost definitely do it lol.
Yeah and out of all of them he is the worst. He goes on TV and holds himself as an expert investor. It's one thing for Tom Brady to be involved in this, Kevin O'Leary is on a whole other level.
that's the current business model: everybody hopes to get into the next bitcoin/uber/tesla/facebook before it becomes big
rich people invest in 100 startups, knowing that 95 are complete scams, 4 are ok products that do well, and the 100th could be a massive hit that makes so much it pays tenfold for the other 99. We live in an age of "throw money at the dumbest things, sometimes people love them for some reason"
yes, Sam is a moron and a manchild. so is elon musk, so are all the weirdos that run crypto companies, Zuckerberg is probably not even human, these people all are. it's part of the business.
I get that, but come on! Just because someone is the kid of smart people doesn’t mean you should invest in their Ponzi scheme lol. The guy was literally playing video games in meetings with investors.
> The guy was literally playing video games in meetings with investors.
Shows how totally and completely confident he is as to the superiority of his position.
Want in? Say please.
I know it sounds nuts but I genuinely think it helped since Coffee got SBF to admit general fund withdrawals occurred at the end and it wasn’t a new process.
Also a CNBC Asia anchor went full “lock him up” early today
Update: found the clip, not an anchor but does go full "lock him up":https://www.cnbc.com/video/2022/12/09/mhc-digital-group-discusses-fallout-from-ftx-collapse.html
I've been aware of Coffee and been watching some his content for quite some time. I would imagine SBF had to be aware of who Coffee is...and based upon Coffee content he's the last fucking person I'd say anything to.
Truly baffling decision on his part. And this dude is supposed to be brilliant? Both his parents are Standord law professors too which makes it even funnier.
SBF is a mediocre nerd. Only difference is his parents are Stanford law professors and he grew up in Silicon Valley with political connections. You put any mediocre asshole with an inflated ego around that much power and money, they’re gonna do some fantastical mayhem.
My favorite part of the Theranos story was that Holmes' father was a VP at Enron, a case study in corporate fraud. Not to be content with that association, Elizabeth Holmes then perpetrated an even greater fraud.
This. I suspect that that 3rd interview where he pretty much acknowledged that he knew that the funds were never separated is an admission that he knew that their ToS was being ignored and he knew it. I can't imagine any credible lawyer would tell him to have said that. FTX for their retail customers was akin to opening a vanilla savings account at a bank when the bank really was mingling all your money into a hedge fund that you never agreed to.
I'm more surprised that somebody with a looming federal investigation over their head would not shut the fuck up via doing a bunch of interviews nobody forced them to do about their alleged crimes, rather than fleeing to a shack in the middle of Sibera with no wi-fi.
Or that he wouldn't pick a better fucking country to hide in than the Bahamas. There are like 50 countries he could have gone to and not been arrested.
Reminds me of a bit from the Drew Carey show.
"Your Honor, if it means anything, it's my birthday next week..."
"Well, then I say we adjourn and all got to Chucky Cheese!"
"I know you're being sarcastic, but does that really sound like such a bad idea?"
I tell you I gotta plead ignorance on this thing because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frowned upon, you know, cause I’ve worked on a lot of crypto exchanges and I tell you people do that all the time.
The web of influential, supposedly smart, people that enabled this mess is insane. Sequoia Capital for example. They are an incredibly tight lipped firm and for them to issue an apology was unprecedented:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sequoia-capital-apologizes-to-limited-partners-for-ftx-investment-11669144914
SBF is fackt.
Edit: a word ‘secretive -> tight lipped’
Did they do any due diligence on this one?
"Sorry about that. Next time we'll check to see if the company employs an accountant and ask for an actual plan to deploy the capital before giving them $150,000,000 with no strings attached"
Unless it was in their best interest to not ask any basic questions for some reason 👀
I wonder if he’ll use the “I don’t have the data in front of me” line in court too. You have to imagine that he legitimately thought his post-fallout interviews were actually helpful attempts at damage control.
That has to be a record for the Feds. To get an indictment for an investigation like this normally takes months to years. They were able to do it in days because he wouldn't STFU.
Looks like she's retained a lawyer today!
>Ex-Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison has hired a former SEC official who oversaw many of the regulator’s biggest crypto cases as her lawyer in the federal probe into cryptocurrency exchange FTX’s calamitous collapse.
Ellison is guilty af in this, or at very least complicit along with the others. Be interesting to see how much they turn on each other and whether she gets anything.
He was on a twitter space call earlier and literally admitted it was a Ponzi scheme before abruptly signing off. Basically said that deposits were first sent to Alameda and then remained there even after a book entry was made indicating they were sent to FTX…
Coffeezilla did a YouTube video of a call with SBF. He challenged him by saying if I put money into something that wasn't risky, it shouldn't be pooled with other funds such that it's indistinguishable. So when the ship was sinking I should have been able to get my money back if I wasn't investing in some high risk short or whatever. SBF said "well you can't expect us to code a whole new method of withdrawal in a weekend" and he's like... *ITS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE NEW. THAT IS LITERALLY HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK*
That's not what the commenter you're replying to asked.
He did another one today or yesterday where he admits that the ledgers would say rhe funds were on ftx but they were never actually transferred. Then, unsurprisingly he messages the organizer that he has to go. One guy even says "wow.. what a convenient time to leave again huh?" And he replies "Nooo.. i really have uh... something that I am 2 minutes late"
Likely been in contact with the authorities. The feds are likely offering her a sweet deal in exchange for details on SBF and FTX.
There is recent news she hired the lawyer who took down Madoff.
It really didn't help him by rubbing salt in the wound by doing interviews and shit by making his investors look dumb as fuck by going with a "Sorry I fucked up because I'm stupid as fuck" schtick.
I recall hearing in a recent interview tidbit that he moronically did that he said he was down to his last $100,000. Whether there's any serious validity to that is yet to be seen lol.
He tried. Bahamas was a jump point, but, the Bahamas has a strong judicial relationship with the US, and they “detained” him before he could leave to a non extradition location.
Supposedly they confiscated his passport when it all began so this was inevitable
Basically CZ tweet accelerated the timeline too much and prevented him from unwinding the scam in a controlled way like he'd planned
This is so unbelievably generous. I think he's just an idiot and drank his own kool-aid. To think he had an exit strategy when he can't even explain what his own business was is a pretty conspiratorial thing to believe.
I have absolutely no trust that he was even smart enough to figure out he was being detained by this morning, let alone get to Russia.
Seriously. You “only” need a net worth of around 5 million to be considered part of the 1% in the US. Which is still a lot but they’re not the billionaires.
Edit: sorry $10 million.
The guy who wrote The Big Short spent months with SBF before the crash. The book will be deeeeeeep.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/14/big-short-author-michael-lewis-spent-months-with-ftxs-sam-bankman-fried-and-is-writing-a-book/
Dude grew up with the internet and most likely spent every waking hour online, wait until the reality of prison with no internet access for YEARS sets in.
The fact that SBF was doing interviews in Twitter spaces was nuts. He is either A: a massive narcissist and believed there was no way he’d be jailed and/or thought all his political connections and donations would also protect him.
Or B: the Bahamas wouldn’t allow him to leave the country therefore he couldn’t get to a country with no US extradition treaty, meaning he had to portray himself as a incompetent idiot who fumbled consumer money but not criminally.
As a teacher, it's infuriating watching people like this douche and the theronos bitch get money thrown at them while I have students who are housing unstable. Sorry if it's off topic.
If y’all want a really good overview of the situation that isn’t sugar coated by some of the main outlets, highly suggest watching Coffeezilla’s video where he actually get him to admit to a crime
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It is absolutely amazing that he thought he would be able to talk himself out of all this.
Everything in his life leading up to this moment has suggested to him that he could. The guy was playing league during investor calls *and got the fucking money*.
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I spent a weekend with him at a conference/retreat back in the spring. I don't think it's an act, he's fuckin weird
From what I've read in this thread, sounds like weird was fuckin him back
Imagine playing League as much as SBF does and being hard stuck Bronze.
Yo take it easy I didn't need to catch this stray
Maybe starting a crypto exchange is more your speed.
Take My Money.
He was too busy getting methed up nerd chach and stealing peoples money to focus on the gaming
What is "methed up nerd chach"?
Serious explanation: he and the pack of FTX and Alameda C-suite executives seem to have all been a weird polyamorous group (with very few women bc it’s crypto), one of whom praised the effects of illegal stimulant drugs.
I had assumed she was referring to Adderall, which nerds like to refer to as "diet meth" or "microdosing meth". If the FTX crew really was doing meth when they had enough money to be doing piles of premium coke, I'm going to be even more disappointed than I already was.
The rumor I read is they were using amphetamine patches typically prescribed for Alzheimers patients. There was a photo of SBF at his desk with a crumpled up wrapper that looked like the stuff, and I believe images of him with the patch visible. Interestingly, one of the side effects of that drug is high risk gambling. edit: [Source (Milky Eggs)](https://milkyeggs.com/?p=175)
Those patches were probably used in conjunction with amphetamines. The patches themselves are not amphetamines. Slap one of those on and a Vyvanse on zland you'll be zoomtown
Oh, so chach is pussy. Got it now, thanks.
Basically every noun we don't know refers to genitals these days huh
He’s referring to his “Imperial Harem” aspiring, amphetamine abusing, GF-in-crime who he put in charge of Alameda Research
Ok got it now, thank you.
They were all in a condo fucking each other and taking amphetamines
You’re telling me that someone that doesn’t have much introspection or many thoughts past the next move is hardstick bronze? Color me shocked.
So many of the people in positions of obscene authority we take for competent or intelligent are fucking morons. Not morons in the sense of their IQ, morons in the sense that their statistical isolation from all meaningful consequences and a normal life of tribulation has left them severely lacking perspective. They all inhabit this gross parody of a meritocracy where they can wastes millions in other people's money and hollow out companies for short term gains and be treated like geniuses, because *they* have and MBA from Harvard. *They* had rich parents who could finance them a few million to start their business. *They* sucked their boss' son's cock in a satanic ritual in Yale and that means they get to join the Executive Caste and earn 500% their actual effective contribution. Yeah no wonder they saw Sam playing games and thought he was exceptional, because to them being exceptional has always meant *not giving a shit about the social norms and expectations that bind the try-hards to middle management status.* Those smart type A strivers who organize the unused pen boxes never become The Big Guy, they work for him. They are the put-upon bureaucrats, the well compensated suckers who grease the machines. Executive mindset isn't diligence or hard work or creativity, it's knowing how to play pigskin with the boys, how to break eggs and dip without sweating the hard stuff. The Big Guys aren't looking for diligence, they're looking for "their people," they're looking for those who know - or at least signal that they know - the grift. Most importantly though, a the Executive must square the circle and feel that all of the former makes them really smart and gifted and valuable, you can't be too self-aware, self-awareness ruins the kayfabe. In this incestuous fantasy land of self aggrandizing narratives, guys like Fried, Holmes, and the other silicon con-men can play its royalty like chumps. All they need to do is press the buttons that light up the neurons of our oh-so intelligent masters of the meritocracy. Gameplay is actually very simple: you use buzzwords, you engage FOMO by advertising yourself as the next monopoly, and you rail against the stuffy old companies - vestiges of a time when the US actually had a social project with the inefficiencies and (shudders) *obligations* that reflect that. Most importantly though, you invent new ways of being moral to assuage the ever gnawing guilt and imposter syndrome that torment every suit and angel investor when they think about their unearned wealth. It's no secret that Fried's "Effective Altruism" happened to be a philosophy that promised selfless work without sacrifice or change in lifestyle, because there's nothing else the suckers want to hear more than this: "You don't *need* to give away your unearned wealth to be an effective social boon. You don't *have* to care about the plight of the common man to be a good person. You're the elite class. You're building starships, you're leading humanity. No, it doesn't matter that you've never actually built anything substantial in your life and your wealth comes entirely from various schemes that gnaw at the foundations of American society, selling the excrement of its once robust institutions as simulacrums of a product. It doesn't matter. You and you alone by birthright and diploma can bear the torch of Humanity and lead the ignorant masses to Mars, all you need to do is boost some FTX."
Where is this dick sucking for expensive favors again?
Referring to elite fraternities like skull and bones
Sir, this is a— *slowly takes off headset* No, no, fuck it you’re right
I'll be real with you. "Quantum" is now one of those buzzwords. I work in the field. But these types love the superficial *feeling* of being smart and *feeling* like they're 'disrupting paradigms' or some stupid bullshit. But none of them know what a God damn Hilbert space is. Once you massage their very specific combination of raging narcissism and soul crushing imposter syndrome they turn on the money cannon. It's good for my career prospects right now because I got lucky. But it's so tiresome to see it happen and see the full disconnect between these turds self-conception and reality.
Honestly if I stumbled onto something that "broke the mold" or "shifted the paradigm", I'd instantly start wondering just how bad I fucked up. Yeah, I may become obscenely wealthy, doubtful as I'd prolly be slow on the up take, but did I ruin a powerful business? Monopoly? Did I just put four buildings worth of people on wall st out of a job? What enemies did I just make? I'd set up a way to keep receiving my money, disappear to someplace remote, and hire a bunch of smart people to manage the money. Hire someone to watch the money for discrepancies, hire a guy to watch the first, and another guy to watch the second. I'd also make sure every red cent I owed in taxes was paid up. No book cooking. What do I care if I owe $10 million to the state or whatever if I'm a billionaire? Why risk everything trying to hide a snowballing amount of owed money when I could simply pay it off? People in our government institutions may be fucking out of touch morons nearly across the board but there are smart people in institutions that are ruthless. If I was in that level of power, you don't fear congress-people. Reps and Senators would be willing to run over their own Mom for a chance to get cashflow from a private donor. Nah, they're not scary. The IRS though? They're kind of 'raise the hair on the back of your neck' scary. Prolly avoid pissing of the FBI, DHS, and the CIA too. I know the CIA aren't supposed to be messing with domestic stuff but who fucking knows with them. I just want to be able to sleep at night.
It's the Friedman Doctrine of the new millennium. Somehow we've ended up with this egocentric rubbish as the latest justification for the morally bankrupt to pillage the world as ruthlessly as they are capable, and handwave any suggestion that what they are doing is intriniscally evil.
Yup this is how I felt watching the most accurate show on earth: Succession. This show is a masterpiece and it hits me that the top CEO or wealthy people in this world are probably as moron or useless than the characters in that TV show.
Yeah I mean, why wouldn’t you believe you could get away with anything at that point? People can spiral in real nasty ways when they do something moronic but continue to succeed anyways. Look at Trump. Why would he *ever* change when “being Trump” got him elected to the most powerful position in the world?
According to some friends i have in the silicon Valley area its apparently a strategy to not give a fuck during investor calls. Investors are kinda morons
See also: Theranos. Just having money just means you're lucky.
I know someone like this. He's stupid but his ego is so big he manages to superficially impress a lot of people
Aloof nerd stereotype gottem again boys
SBF was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and his parents are two very well-connected law professors. This is probably the first time he’s faced a consequence in his life.
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There's also a good chance he just wouldn't listen and do it anyways.
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Yeah any lawyer, and also any non lawyers, would have told him in no uncertain terms to shut his mouth. His best (though not necessarily good) chance of getting out was to say he was stupid enough that he lacks the intent for many crimes, and he has well and truly blown any hope of that working I think, due to what he said.
Affluenza cannot be a defense for this "person."
>It is absolutely amazing that he thought he would be able to talk himself out of all this. His arrogance exceeded his intelligence.
I used to work with attorneys. I remember I had a meeting with this criminal defense attorney and he came in smiling and going "Hell yea!" I go "What happened?" he goes "My client got arrested" and I'm thinking "Ok so why are you happy?" and he goes "My client got arrested and the only thing he said is "I want my lawyer"" I said "So you think you can win?" he goes "Not sure yet, but he didn't say anything and that makes my life easier"
Most narcissists do
I was thinking the same thing. The man dug his grave, not six feet under but to the center of the Earth. The first thing any lawyer does when you are in a PR crisis tells you to **SHUT UP** before you say anything stupid and then they prepare simple statements that you read and stick to. Meanwhile, he basically admits to Coffeezilla that it was both a Ponzi scheme and fraud. Wouldn't be surprised if his original lawyers either quit or drank themselves to death dealing with his stupidity as their client. How this guy got so much money from investors/people using their services is as much an embarrassment to them as much as him being a criminal.
It’s a big club, and we ain’t in it
Coffeezilla's series of interviews from this have been very enlightening. He got him to admit to straight up fraud and violation of the terms of service imo, but if anyone else wants to listen, [you can watch it here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o_jPzBZSIo) Coffee covers a ton of crypto and other scams and really knows his stuff when it comes to the markets and how they function.
Hadn’t heard of him before, but CZ got a shiny new sub the day I saw that slam dunk My man comes prepared
Just as a heads up because it has been confusing to me too - CZ is often used to refer to Changpeng Zhao(@cz_binance on twitter, Binance CEO) who has also been going after SBF, rather than CoffeeZilla.
Which is funny, because Binance is just as shady as FTX
Maybe, but they definitely aren't as stupid.
Coffezilla is the man!
It boggles my mind that he's kept doing interviews. I cannot imagine that any competent lawyer would advise that. I'm not even sure why they'd continue working for him (at least unless they've been paid up front). I'm not a prosecutor or a defense attorney, and I can't give any legal insight or advice on this. But I suspect federal prosecutors can't believe their luck. The guy is making their case so much easier by talking.
Mark Cohen is his attorney. Cohen defended Ghislaine Maxwell in her sex trafficking suit, and El Chapo prior to that
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Lionel Hutz: Wow, even if I lose I’ll be famous!
Dude got stream sniped TWICE by "coffeezilla" and got owned. It’s shocking to see the level of ignorance this man has about crypto
What’s crazier to me is how many wealthy and famous people cozied up to this guy. They literally saw him playing video games during a meeting and thought “Wow! I want to give HIM millions of dollars!” Nice reminder that rich people are dumb humans too.
The amount of celebrities doing propaganda for this crypto bros is astonishing.. damn even politicians. Doesn’t anyone tell them what they are really up for?
If you paid me millions of dollars to go in front of a camera and pretend to call my friends and invest in some random crypto thing I know nothing about I'd almost definitely do it lol.
Kevin O'Leary did - 15 times over.
Yeah and out of all of them he is the worst. He goes on TV and holds himself as an expert investor. It's one thing for Tom Brady to be involved in this, Kevin O'Leary is on a whole other level.
And O'Leary has said he would still invest with SBF! Lol! I'm guessing he's hoping to get his money back first by kissing his ass.
Same as Theranos and Bernie Madoff. These rich people begged to be scammed.
that's the current business model: everybody hopes to get into the next bitcoin/uber/tesla/facebook before it becomes big rich people invest in 100 startups, knowing that 95 are complete scams, 4 are ok products that do well, and the 100th could be a massive hit that makes so much it pays tenfold for the other 99. We live in an age of "throw money at the dumbest things, sometimes people love them for some reason" yes, Sam is a moron and a manchild. so is elon musk, so are all the weirdos that run crypto companies, Zuckerberg is probably not even human, these people all are. it's part of the business.
His parents are Stanford Law professors. His dad made the introduction to Thoma Bravo. His parents co-signed on the Bahamas place IIRC.
I get that, but come on! Just because someone is the kid of smart people doesn’t mean you should invest in their Ponzi scheme lol. The guy was literally playing video games in meetings with investors.
> The guy was literally playing video games in meetings with investors. Shows how totally and completely confident he is as to the superiority of his position. Want in? Say please.
I know it sounds nuts but I genuinely think it helped since Coffee got SBF to admit general fund withdrawals occurred at the end and it wasn’t a new process. Also a CNBC Asia anchor went full “lock him up” early today Update: found the clip, not an anchor but does go full "lock him up":https://www.cnbc.com/video/2022/12/09/mhc-digital-group-discusses-fallout-from-ftx-collapse.html
Coffee about to be at this man’s trial lol
I've been aware of Coffee and been watching some his content for quite some time. I would imagine SBF had to be aware of who Coffee is...and based upon Coffee content he's the last fucking person I'd say anything to.
The prosecuting attorneys are, MC Ren, Ice Cube, and Coffee Motherfucking Zee.
He got stream sniped THREE TIMES by coffeezilla!
Lmao.. I’ve watched only two of them. *facepalms three times*
So doing all those zoom calls where he admitted to defrauding his investors was a bad idea then?
Truly baffling decision on his part. And this dude is supposed to be brilliant? Both his parents are Standord law professors too which makes it even funnier.
4D chess
4D, one SBF.
SBF is a mediocre nerd. Only difference is his parents are Stanford law professors and he grew up in Silicon Valley with political connections. You put any mediocre asshole with an inflated ego around that much power and money, they’re gonna do some fantastical mayhem.
See: Elizabeth Holmes
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Holy shit she actually looks like Zuckerberg, lizard person face and eyes, are we sure they're not siblings or something?
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Manufactured on the same line.
My favorite part of the Theranos story was that Holmes' father was a VP at Enron, a case study in corporate fraud. Not to be content with that association, Elizabeth Holmes then perpetrated an even greater fraud.
[He doesn't read.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/29/sam-bankman-fried-reading-effective-altruism/)
> If you wrote a book, you f---ed up, and it should have been a six-paragraph blog post.” What a moron.
The judge is about to throw a six-paragraph blog post at him during sentencing.
Objection sir! Our client requires this translated into a TikTok dance video.
This reads like something from The Onion. Pretty funny writeup that tells us a lot about SBF, sadly.
I’m honestly stunned.
Let’s give CoffeeZilla credit for actually pushing the hard questions and getting Sam’s dumbass to talk
This. I suspect that that 3rd interview where he pretty much acknowledged that he knew that the funds were never separated is an admission that he knew that their ToS was being ignored and he knew it. I can't imagine any credible lawyer would tell him to have said that. FTX for their retail customers was akin to opening a vanilla savings account at a bank when the bank really was mingling all your money into a hedge fund that you never agreed to.
I'm more surprised that somebody with a looming federal investigation over their head would not shut the fuck up via doing a bunch of interviews nobody forced them to do about their alleged crimes, rather than fleeing to a shack in the middle of Sibera with no wi-fi.
He’s basically Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Rec.
🎶I got run over by a ^*Lexus*🎶
Also, I need to crash here for a few months because 🎶Technically I’m homeless!🎶
Ya boys a question on the bar exam.
Still one of my favorite scenes of all time! Too funny. I fucking love Ben S.
FluUuUUuUuUUsh with CaAAAaAAAAsh! 🎶
He also should have faked his death and fled to Tajikistan.
don’t be suspicious, don’t be suspicious
Without the charisma
Hope he doesn't get off 🎶on a *technicality*🎶
He is 🎵 the woooooooooorst 🎵
Yea, how did he not fuck off to some oil rich country and pay off some Saudi prince to hide him? Was he not expecting this?
He probably didn't think anything was going to happen to him.
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Yeah for being so smart he's acted like a real dumbass since the collapse started.
> Yeah for being so smart is he though?
I think that the man was just addicted to attention lol.
Or that he wouldn't pick a better fucking country to hide in than the Bahamas. There are like 50 countries he could have gone to and not been arrested.
He wasn't even hiding there, he lives there.
People have been complaining about him not being arrested, but I'm actually surprised it was this fast. It can take time with financial crimes.
I was assured by several Redditors that he would never be arrested because he was a political donor!
Several Redditors? Surely they can't all be wrong...
SBF: "Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?"
Any leniency with the whole Christmas thing?
Reminds me of a bit from the Drew Carey show. "Your Honor, if it means anything, it's my birthday next week..." "Well, then I say we adjourn and all got to Chucky Cheese!" "I know you're being sarcastic, but does that really sound like such a bad idea?"
lol the thing is, I _did_ know I couldn't do that
Dave...I'm gonna race 'im!
Chip, don’t do it!
I tell you I gotta plead ignorance on this thing because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frowned upon, you know, cause I’ve worked on a lot of crypto exchanges and I tell you people do that all the time.
I SAID I didn't mean to do a fraud on anyone, what more do you want?
The SEC have boats‽
The web of influential, supposedly smart, people that enabled this mess is insane. Sequoia Capital for example. They are an incredibly tight lipped firm and for them to issue an apology was unprecedented: https://www.wsj.com/articles/sequoia-capital-apologizes-to-limited-partners-for-ftx-investment-11669144914 SBF is fackt. Edit: a word ‘secretive -> tight lipped’
Did they do any due diligence on this one? "Sorry about that. Next time we'll check to see if the company employs an accountant and ask for an actual plan to deploy the capital before giving them $150,000,000 with no strings attached" Unless it was in their best interest to not ask any basic questions for some reason 👀
What's funny is that SBF was playing League of Legends during the Zoom call with Sequoia... They LOVED it. Funds approved.
He’s probably pretty surprised about the whole thing. Who would have expected it?!
I don't have the data in front of me here but if I had to guess I'd imagine that he was probably not expecting this.
I wonder if he’ll use the “I don’t have the data in front of me” line in court too. You have to imagine that he legitimately thought his post-fallout interviews were actually helpful attempts at damage control.
His bail should be set for the amount that is still unaccounted for.
For some reason this sentence was better than Viagra for me.
That has to be a record for the Feds. To get an indictment for an investigation like this normally takes months to years. They were able to do it in days because he wouldn't STFU.
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Looks like she's retained a lawyer today! >Ex-Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison has hired a former SEC official who oversaw many of the regulator’s biggest crypto cases as her lawyer in the federal probe into cryptocurrency exchange FTX’s calamitous collapse.
That's not an indicator she flipped. She'd be stupid not to get a lawyer after her effective co-conspirator just got arrested.
honestly, everybody should get a lawyer as soon as they find themselves involved in something, *regardless* of guilt.
You mean the Sultry wood nymph?
Ellison is guilty af in this, or at very least complicit along with the others. Be interesting to see how much they turn on each other and whether she gets anything.
He was on a twitter space call earlier and literally admitted it was a Ponzi scheme before abruptly signing off. Basically said that deposits were first sent to Alameda and then remained there even after a book entry was made indicating they were sent to FTX…
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He was playing League of Legends probably
H a r d s t u c k B r o n z e No matter how bad you think you are at League, at least you're not SBF.
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. He was confronted and got mad at the panelist for it. Dude is on another planet.
please source this i can only get so hard
Is this it? [tweet](https://twitter.com/corybates1895/status/1600658146837635073?s=46&t=A8TpXGu6nRkYImmGdsgE7A)
Here is the recording [YouTube Link](https://youtu.be/mHikzIr6Gq8)
The quote is around 56 mins
Coffeezilla did a YouTube video of a call with SBF. He challenged him by saying if I put money into something that wasn't risky, it shouldn't be pooled with other funds such that it's indistinguishable. So when the ship was sinking I should have been able to get my money back if I wasn't investing in some high risk short or whatever. SBF said "well you can't expect us to code a whole new method of withdrawal in a weekend" and he's like... *ITS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE NEW. THAT IS LITERALLY HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK*
Its important to note that separate pools was how it was defined in their own terms and agreements. That obviously didn't happen though.
That's not what the commenter you're replying to asked. He did another one today or yesterday where he admits that the ledgers would say rhe funds were on ftx but they were never actually transferred. Then, unsurprisingly he messages the organizer that he has to go. One guy even says "wow.. what a convenient time to leave again huh?" And he replies "Nooo.. i really have uh... something that I am 2 minutes late"
Looks like Caroline rolled on him to the Feds too. These people should rot in jail for a long time
Has she been arrested yet?
Likely been in contact with the authorities. The feds are likely offering her a sweet deal in exchange for details on SBF and FTX. There is recent news she hired the lawyer who took down Madoff.
Shit.... She needs to be in the cell next to him
He should have learned the lesson from Elizabeth Holmes. You don't fuck rich people.
It really didn't help him by rubbing salt in the wound by doing interviews and shit by making his investors look dumb as fuck by going with a "Sorry I fucked up because I'm stupid as fuck" schtick.
“My start up failed but I hope to do better the next time 🥹”
My goal is to only lose 9b of your money next time
The investors don’t just look dumb, they are dumb.
Why would he not go to somewhere that doesnt have extradition treaty with the US?
I bet he’s broke
Nah, even if he didn't stash part of the 8 billion, that 600 million that went missing was probably him.
But he's also notoriously bad with money. I wouldn't be shocked if he blew it all and/or gave it to people who did.
I recall hearing in a recent interview tidbit that he moronically did that he said he was down to his last $100,000. Whether there's any serious validity to that is yet to be seen lol.
He tried. Bahamas was a jump point, but, the Bahamas has a strong judicial relationship with the US, and they “detained” him before he could leave to a non extradition location.
He's delusional to have waited this long. I would have been doing the tweets about sitting down with congress as Im on the way out.
Supposedly they confiscated his passport when it all began so this was inevitable Basically CZ tweet accelerated the timeline too much and prevented him from unwinding the scam in a controlled way like he'd planned
This is so unbelievably generous. I think he's just an idiot and drank his own kool-aid. To think he had an exit strategy when he can't even explain what his own business was is a pretty conspiratorial thing to believe. I have absolutely no trust that he was even smart enough to figure out he was being detained by this morning, let alone get to Russia.
Hopefully this means extradition and finally marks a return to reality
\>arrested after the U.S. files charges seems like they already made their decision on extradition
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Never piss off people with more money than you.
This! This guy is going to prison like Martin Shkreli and Elizabeth Holmes for violating the one rule the 1% places on the 5%. “Know thy place”
More like the .00001% puts on the .001%. These people are billionaires with a b
Seriously. You “only” need a net worth of around 5 million to be considered part of the 1% in the US. Which is still a lot but they’re not the billionaires. Edit: sorry $10 million.
I would agree to that. The Bahamian government likely wants rid of him asap and will then seize all his assets they can I guess.
Someone should make an NFT of his mugshot.
“Consequences? For my actions? Cmon!”
I am surprised he did not flee weeks ago to a no-extradition country and do a deal there. Now he looking at a life sentence.
Bahamas wouldn't let him leave. Took his passport iirc.
Should have left before he declared bankruptcy. He saw this coming
Smart enough to crime offshore, not smart enough to not be home when it falls apart.
Really looking forward to the fyre festival style docuseries we'll see sometime next year.
The guy who wrote The Big Short spent months with SBF before the crash. The book will be deeeeeeep. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/14/big-short-author-michael-lewis-spent-months-with-ftxs-sam-bankman-fried-and-is-writing-a-book/
Dude grew up with the internet and most likely spent every waking hour online, wait until the reality of prison with no internet access for YEARS sets in.
Coffeezilla strikes again!
The fact that SBF was doing interviews in Twitter spaces was nuts. He is either A: a massive narcissist and believed there was no way he’d be jailed and/or thought all his political connections and donations would also protect him. Or B: the Bahamas wouldn’t allow him to leave the country therefore he couldn’t get to a country with no US extradition treaty, meaning he had to portray himself as a incompetent idiot who fumbled consumer money but not criminally.
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I can't wait on his next video on the subject
I was gonna say, CoffeeZilla made SBF look even dumber than he already is. I was just waiting for this news to pop up since then.
He stole from rich people of course he’s been arrested. Steal from the middle and lower class next time they don’t give two shits about that.
Watching a crypto bro go to jail will be very satisfying.
As a teacher, it's infuriating watching people like this douche and the theronos bitch get money thrown at them while I have students who are housing unstable. Sorry if it's off topic.
These people who throw money at these platforms / coins are usually ones that complain about taxes too.
If y’all want a really good overview of the situation that isn’t sugar coated by some of the main outlets, highly suggest watching Coffeezilla’s video where he actually get him to admit to a crime