Reminds me of Richard Feynman’s: “If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don’t understand quantum mechanics.”
The maximum sentence is 110 years!
Was he convicted in Federal court?
IANAL, but my understanding is that for sentencing for Federal crimes takes much longer than in state courts because of Congress has established sentencing guideline in an attempt to obtain similar levels of sentences for similar crimes throughout all of the 94 federal judical districts. Here is a four-minute video with the basics.
Here is an explanation from a defense attorney.
In short, there is this addtional process of
One of my high school buddies got a job with the Feds after he passed the bar. It’s the cushiest job in the world. No overtime, good pay and a pension. He looks at the history and the crimes of the convicted criminal and prepares a report for the prosecution for the sentencing range and which type of prison they should go to.
Yes, for contempt of Congress. (Not sure if that was the formal charge, but that’s what it was — failure to obey congressional subpoena.)
Length of time to prepare pre-sentence reports still seems odd to me, but different systems, different rhythms, I guess.
I mean SBF. If it’s a federal court case, then the delay is normal.
Nah, anyone who graduated from middle school should have the research chops to determine that if anyone is trying to sell you crypto anything, you’re probably getting played.
You could put your money in a traditional bank account and collect interest, but that would be boring. Much more exciting to gamble on cryptocurrencies where not only the value of the thing is highly volatile but there’s also the strong possibility that the people to whom you entrust your bitcoin end up stealing or losing it.
Sorry, I got confused. Yes, prosecuted by the federal Southern District of New York, the major commercial crimes prosecution group in the country.
Yeah, so the time between conviction and sentencing is normal.
You can tell me all you want about stuff he wrote.
But I’ve seen the kid he raised.
OTOH I can also see him grow up around all that academic/legal talk about the established system… and thinking to himself “f___ that, I’m going to be partying and making money”, but grabbing on to the “effective altruism” figleaf as a way to self-justify.
I think people do understand it right away and then decide that it must be more complicated than that and so become convinced they don’t get it, but the truth is that it’s very simple; people create their own money online and then convince themselves it’s worth something. That’s really it.
In a few cases, like Bitcoin or Ethereum, it takes off; in thousands of others, it never does. Which is what you’d expect.
It’s really simple - which is why the cryptobros have to MAKE it sound complex.
The Sam Bankman-Fried case, as others have pointed out, isn’t really specifically a crypto crime, it’s just good old-fashioned fraud. You could have committed precisely the same crimes with deposits of US dollars, Chinese yuan, or South African rand. In theory - but had some shempily dressed rich boy come around saying “everyone gimme your money and I’ll hold on to it for you,” he would not have had a single depositor. Not one. He only got anyone interested in him because you had to convert your money into crypto before handing it over to him, and the cryptobros make that sound complex and new. It’s not.
IOW …
It’s Beanie Babies with bits.
At one time those things were circulating as a currency among collectors with enough mania.
Sentencing of up to life has been discussed and punted around, but I highly doubt that SBF will likely ever be put into a position within a company, or be able to raise money with investors that he could repeat his crimes. So rehabilitation or prevention of recidivism seems to not be a motive for imprisonment, but just plain punishment.
Is there any way that he could assist law enforcement in ferreting out other fraudsters, much like Frank Abagnale (Catch Me if You Can, guy)? Or was his form of fraud so unique that it’s not likely to be repeated on a wide scale this his cooperation wouldn’t be worth much?
His form of fraud was so common that his cooperation wouldn’t be worth much. It’s typical accounting fraud but on a very large scale with crypto dressing.
I think that he’ll get in the 20 to 30 year range and his cohorts who flipped will get around ten. What’s interesting is what liability his parents have, particularly his father who was in on a lot of the communications.
I think setting an example for other potential fraudsters is going to play into how much time he gets.
^^^ This.
Based on his testimony he’s a smug little shithead with neither conscience nor contrition. He is most useful to society as a deterrent.
People probably said the same about Barry Minkow.
Yet he came out of jail from his first massive fraud, and promptly embezzled his fellow churchgoers
Con men can always find another sucker.
A former coworker of mine having served 6.5 years of a 10 year sentence for fraud, was released and promptly employed by the church he gave a ton of money to before his fraud conviction was uncovered.
According to his ex-wife, the church’s accounts wouldn’t bear much scrutiny. His now adult children are steadfast in their belief that Dad is a Godly man who was railroaded.