Comment by b112 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by b112 | Hacker News Reader

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Isn't there a statute of limitations for these types of crimes? (Not sure for the US here, but...)

If all the data is spread to the winds, if everyone hits ground, can they even file charges? I suppose so, but if there is no evidence pointing to wrongdoing...

To be honest, I'm not even sure what he supposedly did wrong. He took investments, in an unregulated sector, and backed those investments and lost?

If he were a bank, that's 100% legit. No bank I know of, has 100% of investor funds backed by anything. Even in Canada, land of give-a-fuck-sorta, there used to be a requirement for banks to have hard currency (gold, cash) in a vault somewhere, 5% worth of account holder's value, which was inspected annually by the government. Yet the last time I read the bank act, it was removed as a requirement.

If banks don't need any sort of banking for account holders in CAD, why would an unregulated exchange need that?

(Again, I can imagine there are all sorts of things I'm missing... but?!)

He bought a $16m house in his parents’ names with company funds (fraud).

He transferred customer funds to an unrelated hedge fund company (fraud).

He created fake accounting systems to hide the fraud (fraud).

He claimed to be making lots of money just to help others (morally reprehensible and a huge red flag).

That people are still making excuses for him tells you how rotten this entire ecosystem is.

SBF is so so bad. But,

When does it become criminal to skip the step of establishing an accounting system....prior employees say they didn't even know their cash, liability, or trading positions.

FTX customer deposits went into Alameda bank account. Could be that they stayed there and somebody just kept a spreadsheet of deposits?

My point is that the astounding lack of records and systems may make it very difficult to prosecute him. For example, trades and payments were executed just on verbal orders so it will be hard to pin specifics on SBF.

Probably testimony of insiders will be the most compelling evidence against him.

Oh I suspect he had lots of records for himself (just as one example each real estate transaction had records) and the ‘stunning lack of records’ is yet another lie (along with his lies about not understanding anything), in an attempt to cover up fraud with perceived incompetence. Suddenly, it seems nobody knew anything, how convenient!

He stole money and enriched himself and his family at the expense of others. He and everyone else involved including his parents, higher up employees and investors should feel deep shame.

> Isn't there a statute of limitations for these types of crimes?

For non-capital federal crimes, the basic rule is 5 years, but there are exceptions.

Such as fleeing prosecution?

Yes: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/question-tolling-sta...

He is only fleeing prosecution, if he is unavailable.

For example, he can easily be contacted for interviews, with an email or phone call, or even by visiting te Bahamas. Thus he is not fleeing, or hiding from contact, and I even presume he has a lawyer, whom the police can contact.

So nothing is suspended here.

The clock stops the minute that you step overseas, so as long as he's in the Bahamas there is no statute of limitations.

This is not true, see my other response.

Also, isn't FTX a Bahamian company? Why wouldn't he be there?

And what US crime did he commit, as all the accounting stuff didn't happen in the US, but the Bahamas?

> Also, isn't FTX a Bahamian company?

The FTX network of companies (see the consolidated bankruptcy filings) includes more than 100 companies, some of which are American, all of which were ultimately controlled by SBF, most of which had what records they had commingled, and most of which seem to have been tools in the same set of international frauds.

100 companies, heh. Well no wonder investigating takes time.

Just tracking down them all, the board of directors, etc...

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