Hacker News Reader

Comment by tommiegannert | Hacker News Reader

I'm guessing he's spoken to lawyers, and what he says is a result of some locked in strategy. (Though he also seems to be a professional rambler and deflecter.) However, I'm surprised that SBF hasn't played a card like "while I didn't know it at the time, I have now investigated and concluded that..." to (a) show he was sincerely clueless and (b) set the stage for muddying what he knew before and after blowing up.

If I end up in SBF's situation (it can happen to anyone, right?) why should I not use this tactic? Would admitting knowing anything hurt his case, even if the knowledge was gained after leaving the company?

View on HN

His lawyers fired him because he wouldn't shut up. https://futurism.com/the-byte/sam-bankman-fried-lawyers-quit...

Your statements can and will be used againt you, but they will never be used in your favour ("hearsay"). If you have something to say, wait to say it on the stand, in front of a jury. Until then, it will hurt you, and it won't help you.

> I'm guessing he's spoken to lawyers, and what he says is a result of some locked in strategy

I mean he very publicly fired his top-flight law firm and disparaged the advice of lawyers generally very early on in the “keep talking” strategy, so, yes, he has spoken to lawyers...

But while he now has new counsel, I don’t think there is much evidence other than belief that “people notorious for publicly dismissing risk as a valid consideration before having massive fraud empires collapse around their head are not the kind of people to act recklessly and imprudently” supporting the idea that his behavior is part of a carefully planned strategy.

Both his parents are/were professors at Stanford Law School, so that’s a fair guess.

Indict them too. There’s every indication that they were beneficial participants of the scheme.

(I haven't been paying attention to this case, and had't heard that.)

Is it possible that SBF is throwing himself under the bus to protect parents?

> it can happen to anyone, right?

Sure...anyone who's thoroughly unscrupulous and willing to do whatever it takes in pursuit of wealth and power.

If you think that describes everyone, or even a supermajority, then I'd suggest you lay off the Cynicism Flakes for breakfast for a while and get out of what I'd suspect to be a very wealthy bubble.

> I'm surprised that SBF hasn't played a card like "while I didn't know it at the time, I have now investigated and concluded that..."

unless that's true, it's another way for the prosecution to hang him, because they might be able to prove he _did_ know.

> while I didn't know it at the time

In a court, under oath, this won’t fly.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com