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nickthegreek

*remotely testify.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/ftxs-sam-bankman-fried-says-he...

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As the saying goes...

If you forget to hire an accountant, make sure you listen to your lawyer.

They did not "forget to hire an accountant". They took customer funds and did whatever they wanted with it. Just look at that hilarious "balance sheet" that was leaked, it's not even on the same planet as a balance sheet of an exchange.

It worked until the funds ran out.

In a sense this is worse than a pyramid scheme because in a pyramid scheme at least a good portion of the "profits" is actually paid out. Here the funds went partially to fuck-knows-who, partially were lost in trading.

They remembered to hire a chief compliance officer though. One with plenty of fraud experience.

Did I really need air quotes around "forget"?

Yeah, the point is this was much more than some accounting problems - looks like the intent (to defraud) was there as well. On a massive scale.

Of course.

But the SBF story is "man, I dunno, maybe I forgot to reconcile those ledgers? It's complicated I think.".

My guess: He knew exactly what was happening but believed he could outlast the crisis and everyone would be whole on the other side. That risk would probably have paid off about 50% of the time. And I think the Binance guy called SBF's bluff and killed FTX for fun.

Congress should demand in-person testimony

He was a political donor, not going to happen LOL

He made donations to Democrats and clearly favored them. It seems FTX made donations to Republicans when they thought they could buy regulatory influence.

So while I'd rather see him questioned under the upcoming house, not the current one, nothing would happen either way.

SBF: “I donated to both parties. I donated about the same amount to both parties,”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/30/ftx-billi...

Yea, I totally trust what he says.

He made dark money donations to Republicans according to him as well. We don't know the scale of those dark money donations, which is certainly convenient for those involved. Your last line betrays the issues with the post you've made.

> He said that it was important for him to remain in the Bahamas, where FTX is headquartered, and that it is difficult for him "to move right now and travel because the paparazzi effect is quite large."

Because of the paparazzi, mind you.

They can be quite annoying, or so I've heard.

Mic in his ear that feeds him answers?

No, that’s the mic connected to the computer he is playing League of Legends from.

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