Day 1004 – Criminal Mastermind or Hapless Dude?

Sunday, October 22, 2023

I’ve been mulling over the above question in regard to Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX. I’ve finished Michael Lewis’ book Going Infinite. Also, I keep thinking about what Lewis said on 60 Minutes – that in the case of Sam Bankman-Fried each side will be telling a different story and that he, Lewis, had another story and his was the more interesting. Ah yes, and I have a conclusion, which I’m sure won’t happen, but would be the most just.

Okay, let’s review the arguments:

#1 He’s a criminal mastermind. He stole customers’ money. 

#2 He’s a hapless dude. He wasn’t paying attention to the fact that he was running out of money or that he was taking customers’ money. He was too busy being an altruist.

Okay there are justifications or arguments for both:

A. “How can you lose $8 billion and not know it?”

B. He told co-workers to build a backdoor so money could be taken from customers.

C. The guy had no and I mean zero managerial skills. there were no controls financially. None of the people were equipped or knowledgeable about how to run a business.

Okay. That’s about the sum total of the arguments. The rest is salacious or stupid BS.

So I ask, “Who’s guilty?”

I say – Everyone.

And – no one.

What should we (or the judge) do?

Everyone involved deserves a spanking and should be sent home rubbing their fannies and told to “think about what they’ve done.” And threatened “to never do it again.”

Why do I say this? Consider the fact that many people, okay, everyone trusted Sam. Yet, they knew he was not doing anything to protect or control anything. What? How can you let someone like that run the show? Who’s guilty here? Everyone. How about the people who got millions and billions from Sam? Isn’t that ill-gotten gains? I mean if you get money from a bank robbery you have to give it back and or you are charged with accepting stolen goods. Well, how many of the people who got some of Sam’s largess have ponied up and given back? I think it’s zero. Maybe, they need a little nudge, like a warrant and threat of fifty years in jail? Sorry, Tom and Shaq and that guy in Hong Kong you received from someone who’s money wasn’t his. You didn’t know? What say us now? Too bad? How could you not know? etc. 

And it turns out that the bankruptcy trustee has filed a new motion in court saying 90% of the money was there. In other words, Sam did not lose the money. He just didn’t know where it was. Thus supporting the helpless dude case.

So did Sam break the law? Yeah, well, maybe. But also he may not have known or was not paying attention, or didn’t have the capacity to know. Whatever. Should he go to jail? Does anyone else deserve to go to jail? Hum. I’d say what we need in this case is an adult to come in and spank everyone. How could they be that gullible? Trusting? and Stupid? Answer – Easy. Happens all the time. 

I contend that we give Sam parole and make him assistant to Elizabeth Warren and a new commission to regulate crypto and crypto futures so this does not and can not happen again.

One thing Lewis’ book does not address and all this leaves as an open question is “Crypto? WTF?”

I’ve read the paper by the Japanese guy whom nobody knows and listened to the pale white guy who has been coding in his basement for ten years (Etherium) and I don’t understand it. Is it something? Or is it a pile of sand? I don’t know. That’s a discussion for another day.

*What? You believed that? How gullible are you? They are Mayan ruins.

PS Lewis has said that Taylor Swift was willing to take the $25-40 million offered, but Sam never got around to okaying it. Thus shooting down this as an example of Tay-Tay smart business woman, but supporting the hapless dude arg.