The tide turns against Sam Bankman-Fried
Two of his associates have pled guilty and probably will get a break in their sentences in exchange for cooperative testimony:
“I’m announcing that the Southern District of New York has filed charges against Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, and Gary Wang, a co-founder of FTX, in connection with their roles in the frauds that contributed to FTX’s collapse,” the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said on Wednesday night. “Both Miss Ellison and Mr. Wang have pled guilty to those charges, and they are both cooperating with the Southern District of New York.”
“Let me reiterate a call that I made last week, if you participated in misconduct at FTX or Alameda, now is the time to get ahead of it,” he continued. “We are moving quickly, and our patience is not eternal.”
The prosecution seems to be holding a good hand right now.
Bankman-Fried is in custody in the US but is about to be released on $250 million bond. No, that’s not a typo. It’s also “the largest-ever pretrial bond,” and I can well believe it. Other terms of the agreement include wearing an ankle bracelet, going for counseling (for what, I have no idea), and staying in the northern district of California.
How was the money secured? In this way:
A recognizance bond is a written commitment from the accused to appear in court when ordered. In return, Bankman-Fried’s camp would not be required to meet the full collateral requirements on the bail.
The bond was secured by equity in his family home, and by the signatures of his parents and two other individuals with “considerable” assets…
Judge Gabriel Gorenstein said that Bankman-Fried would require “strict” supervision following his release to his parents’ home in California.
His parents, both Stanford Law professors, were present in the courtroom.
Bankman-Fried is thirty years old, but he joins a substantial number of people of that age living with parents. My guess is that his digs will be cushier than the usual, at least for a while. But I would love to be a fly on the wall for some of those heart-to-heart talks he will almost certainly be having with his parents.
Previous bonds under similar circumstances don’t begin to compare, even adjusted for inflation:
Bernie Madoff posted a $10 million bond while awaiting trial on his multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Jeff Skilling, former Enron CEO, posted a $5 million bond, while Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos founder, posted a scant $500,000.
Regarding “those heart-to-heart talks he will almost certainly be having with his parents.”
His parents are in on it. They were literally on the payroll.
So if SBF had followed his parents into academia…would he have done *less harm* or “more harm” than he did in his business career?
Sam Bankman-Fried is just the fall guy for the real facilitators.
I have a suspicion that they’re not going to get useful testimony out of Ellison and that other chap and that all three will receive a slap on the wrist courtesy Democrats in the U.S. Attorney’s office and on the bench.
That his parents pledged their assets to keep him out of jail (a locus evidently proper only for political protesters who oppose the Regime) is another black mark against them. These people held the most prestigious positions to be had in academe. This is the pinnacle of our professional class, and it tells you why our public life is such a cesspool.
Art Deco:
Are you a parent?
They’re only keeping him out of jail temporarily.
Now, if they were to assist him or join him in flight – which I imagine could happen – that would be another story.
By the way, I think if he does show up in court he will end up getting a sentence of between 10 and 20 years. I’m not sure whether you would consider that a “slap on the wrist” or not. It would certainly be less than Madoff got and probably slightly more than Elizabeth Holmes got.
Meanwhile, how many Jan 6 defendants are held without bail for misdemeanor offenses?
It would be interesting to find out who else posted the Bond.
If any of them see prison time it won’t be at Super Max here in CO, like a certain Govenor.
It would certainly be less than Madoff got and probably slightly more than Elizabeth Holmes got.
Neither Madoff nor Holmes were financing the Democratic Party. Not only SBF but his mother and his brother are enmeshed in the Democratic Party.
They’re only keeping him out of jail temporarily.
Yes, I’m vaguely familiar with rules of criminal procedure and for what bail and bond are used.
Are you a parent?
I’m going out on a limb with the supposition that his life and his brother’s have been devoid of toughlove. Inhibiting that has been his mother’s stated disbelief in personal agency. His aunt, currently of Columbia University, is on the record as seeing incarceration of criminals as ‘a public health problem’.
SBF’s parents have plenty to answer for. They raised a crook.
At some point his parents will give a puff piece interview to the NYT and 60 Minutes. Gag!
Andy McCarthy (former federal prosecutor) thinks SBF will get more like 30 years and maybe more. He deserves it. And no computer access!
What exactly is “the northern district of California”?
SBF’s parents have plenty to answer for. They raised a crook.
Normal range parents often fail at child-rearing. (See for example, Nancy Reagan and her wretched daughter). The thing is, we have reason to believe that Bankman and Fried are not normal-range and that his deficient moral development is in some measure a function of that.
Andy McCarthy (former federal prosecutor) thinks SBF will get more like 30 years and maybe more. He deserves it. And no computer access!
Andrew McCarthy’s sense of how the Department of JustUs (and the adjacent court system) work is ca. 1994. Robert Bork’s was ca 1975. Here’s a hypothesis: the more distant the median vintage of your workforce is from the men of 1918, the more the gatekeeper positions in your organization will be composed of amoral people.
I hate to be this cynical, but I’m going to bet that he either gets a very light sentence or maybe even gets acquitted. If he’s got people who are willing to put up the kind of money required to let him avoid jail while awaiting trial, he’s also going to get top-notch legal counsel, and that makes all the difference. Ask O.J. Simpson.
Let’s face it, there are at least 3 systems of justice in this country: one for people who have connections to ruling class Democrats, another for the Democrats’ designated pets (e.g. BLM, Antifa, et al), and a third for everyone else, where your guilt or innocence depends not so much on the evidence, but on the judge, the jury, and the venue.
Art Deco:
Andy based his comments on the way the Federal Sentencing Guidelines work. Very mechanical.
Eeyore:
Some big states are divided into districts. I imagine the Northern District is SF and north. Texas has 4 or 5 districts. Iowa has 2. Nebraska just one.
Andy based his comments on the way the Federal Sentencing Guidelines work. Very mechanical.
Of what will SBF be convicted?
Art Deco said, ” . . . we have reason to believe that Bankman and Fried are not normal-range [parents] and that his deficient moral development is in some measure a function of that.”
But these loving gamete donors were so virtuous in petitioning their boy’s Bahamian jailers for the delivery of vegan meals to their pride and joy:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/sam-bankman-fried-pleads-prison-feed-him-vegan
I’m sure that SBF’s $250 million bond will cover the cost of a lot of vegan meals, maybe even some hand-delivered from the French Laundry [which offers a “veganized” version of its vegetarian “tasting” menu, for about $310] by Gavin Newsom.
Welp, it was funnier in The Producers.
And the “convenient” charges allow SBF to “take the 5th” whenever a question is presented by Congress, like “Who got the ‘donations’ from your company?”. Taking the 5th is so much more upstanding than the usual, “I don’t remember”.
I am sure that the charges will linger until the current hostile Congressional majorities have been eliminated.
Sgt. Joe Friday:
Despite your time spent on the police force so many years ago 🙂 , I think you’re incorrect in your prognostication. I’m basing that on the fact that it’s very very likely that his associates will be testifying against him in order to reduce their sentences.
Does anyone know if his bond is forfeit if for instance he committed “suicide”. I simply as early death seems to happen to anyone with actual dirt on those in Washington
Art Deco:
You failed to answer my question about whether you are a parent. That’s okay – believe me, you don’t have to answer. I just wondered, though.
Parents tend to know that although we may try our best, the whole thing is always, always, always at least somewhat of a crapshoot. Toughlove is no guarantee of anything, either.
You can have the same parents and seemingly the same child-rearing methods and one child turns out great and the other is a scumbag.
Parents tend to know that although we may try our best, the whole thing is always, always, always at least somewhat of a crapshoot. Toughlove is no guarantee of anything, either.
I’ve discussed that above and I’ve seen it up close and personal. The relationship between rearing and outcome is very hit and miss. That having been said, we know something about how his mother and how his aunt understand personal responsibility. We also know something about how his mother and father respond to novel situations. (Importuning the prison authorities for vegan meals for their son, for example).
How kids turn out is a crap shoot.
How many times have we all seen siblings, very near in age,raised in the same home by their parents, going to the same school, etc , and one is the “ideal” child and the other a total mess.
Aside from identical twins, siblings do not share identical DNA; they share about 50% of their DNA, but not the same exact half. Perhaps this is why siblings may turn out quite different.
Not everybody responds the same manner to a given set of circumstances.
Who knows why SBF turned out to be a lying, two faced, thieving SOB.
He is not stupid; he has a physics degree from MIT which probably means he scored near 800 on his math SAT.
Given his background, I would venture to guess he is one arrogant individual who believed he had it all figured out, given that most investors never had the smarts to get into MIT (or equal).
He probably did have it all figured out until he didn’t.
Hes a clear flight risk why should he get any bail. You think he had any actual control of the funds no he was just a front man
John Tyler:
And even identical twins can sometimes turn out very different from each other.
I generally blame; climate change, Trump, and the parents.
Sorry if you lost your child’s college fund to some dude and a girl who looks like she could play a caterpillar in an elementary school play.
Wasn’t his helping to steal an election an INSURRECTION?? It was definitely more than what they claim was an insurrection on 1/6/21.
wendybar:
I would say the better term is coup.
The shooting at Oxford HS in Michigan about a year ago had a result I hadn’t seen before. The shooter’s parents–he was a student there–are being prosecuted for making a gun available (this seems more likely than just having one for Dad which wasn’t secured) to the kid and for not getting him professional help. The latter is likely to be a Pandora’s box and probably only applies to people too poor to afford good defense attorneys.
But…is there some reason, should this turn out to be a charge in a trial, not to apply the same thing to SBF’s parents?
THIS thread display’s Neo’s correction and contrarianism at her finest.
I’m siding with Art Deco. Chuckling through and through.
Then comes her last Bon Mot to wendybar: “I would say the better term is coup” — not something equivocal like “insurrection.”
LOL! Touché.