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Government

Sam Bankman-Fried Says He Will Testify Before Congress On FTX Collapse (theverge.com) 39

Posted by BeauHD from the prison-bound dept.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried promised to testify before Congress after he finished "learning and reviewing" the events that caused the popular cryptocurrency exchange to file for bankruptcy last month. The Verge reports: Bankman-Fried's promise was made in response to a tweet from House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters (D-CA) last week calling on him to join the committee's hearing on FTX's collapse on December 13th. But Bankman-Fried didn't commit to testifying at the hearing scheduled for next week.

"Once I have finished learning and reviewing what happened, I would feel like it was my duty to appear before the committee and explain," Bankman-Fried said in a tweet on Sunday. "I'm not sure that will happen by the 13th. But when it does, I will testify." Bankman-Fried resigned as FTX's chief executive last month, a move that could hinder his ability to fully review internal company materials before agreeing to testify.
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Sam Bankman-Fried Says He Will Testify Before Congress On FTX Collapse More

Sam Bankman-Fried Says He Will Testify Before Congress On FTX Collapse

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  • You know this almost makes me think he's innocent (Score:4, Funny)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Monday December 05, 2022 @06:27PM (#63105982)
    Because it's so incredibly stupid that it makes me think he could have also been dumb enough to tank a 30 billion dollar company through shear incompetence.

    Doesn't matter though. It looks like he actually ripped off a few actual rich people by mistake. Just like Bernie Madoff and Elizabeth Holmes his ass is going to get nailed to the wall.

    The key to a scam is to never get so successful you attract actual members of the elite. Because as we learned from that little Twitter buyout the actual 1% are incompetent buffoons who don't really know how to invest or run a business. So that it's not that it's hard to fool them it's just that they're going to nail your ass to the wall if you do.
    • I don't know if I'd believe that. This guy is better at pulling charades than Elizabeth Holmes, and that is how he got where we are today. He's playing the innocents\stupidity card. This guy was partying with other peoples money and enjoying it.
    • It's okay. Some fine, honorable, U.S. Congresspeople have his back, so you know this is all very innocent. Nope, no corruption here. They'll just tell him how brave he is to appear and talk about what went wrong and how it could have happened to anybody.

      • Especially all the people currently in office who were helped put there by his sudden and generous donations...

        • Somehow I don't think it is going to work out even though he did contribute to both parties. There were enough people burned that the money he contributed will be outweighed by the money the burned people contributed. If he testifies in person, I expect he will be taken into custody afterwards. Which is why I don't think he will be in person. He is no babe in the woods. Both his parents are lawyers and I thought taught at MIT. He knows the game.
      • they're corrupt enough to take his cash but he doesn't have enough of it to get their attention. Nobody in crypto does. They can't compete with real billionaires for buying off Congress.

        And they tried. SBF gave $30 mil to the Dems and his Vice President gave $40 to the GOP. Didn't save the company. And it didn't keep the SEC off them.
    • It's the Simple Simon defense. Lol

    • Because it's so incredibly stupid that it makes me think he could have also been dumb enough to tank a 30 billion dollar company through shear incompetence.

      For sure, he was completely incompetent at his job of running a bank and trading firm.

      But there's also a lot of rules and corporate regulations that likely would have helped reign in the incompetence. I suspect he brushed these aside and that might be where he gets into legal hot water.

      The key to a scam is to never get so successful you attract actual members of the elite. Because as we learned from that little Twitter buyout the actual 1% are incompetent buffoons who don't really know how to invest or run a business. So that it's not that it's hard to fool them it's just that they're going to nail your ass to the wall if you do.

      Ultimately money trusts money.

    • This guy will never show up to testify. He'll make everyone think he'll be there and then he'll just disappear.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by SpzToid ( 869795 )

        This guy will never show up to testify. He'll make everyone think he'll be there and then he'll just disappear.

        The Bahamas has an extradition treaty with the US.

        Last I looked, Morocco wouldn't extradite accused criminals to the US, assuming Morocco would choose to allow a foreigner to stay there. All the other countries that don't extradite to the US are really, truly "shithole countries" whose concept of democracy and law is completely foreign. If that's his best option and choice, so be it.

    • The key to avoiding charges is to donate boatloads of money to the people who would investigate you.
      • Since he has lost his ability to donate in the future, what's the motivation to protect him? Better to throw him under the bus and win new benefactors. Win-win.
    • He is not innocent. He committed fraud.

      But he thinks he is innocent, which is why he is engaging in antics like this.

      Big difference.

      I guarantee you his lawyers are telling him to shut up and just hole up in his Bahamas penthouse with his chinless girlfriend. But he thinks he's innocent, so he's refusing that advice.
    • So you are calling Elon Musk an incompetent buffoon who doesn't know how to invest or run a business, or are you saying that his takeover has revealed the buffoonery of the previous management?

      Just a small fact here, he is the most successful person in the world at those two things. I am guessing that you are better however since you consider him so bad, just a small note Elon Musk for all his investment buffoonery did not invest in FTX. Outside of your opinion I would be interested in the measurable ou

      • I guess it's not fair for anyone to criticize Elon Musk and refer to him as a buffoon who can't successfully run a business. He's obviously successful right now, despite the fact that he comes from money. He has obviously made decisions that brought him to his current level of wealth. None of us truly know the ins-and-outs or what he does in running his businesses or actually working on some of his more technical and scientific endeavors.

        On the surface though, he appears more like a troll version of a Steve

        • So maybe could be should be? Most of the criticism comes down to why he is doing things but this is internal to him and not highly important and the only person who really knows why Elon does what he does is Elon. I used to think that Tesla was way over priced (at $190 per share) basically comparing it with other car companies and looking at the overall picture. At the time I could not see how Tesla could justify the share price. Now Tesla has grown so much and improved their production expanded into new co

  • Nothing in his words said he would appear in person... my guess is Zoom call from Dubai - if he can make it there.

    • Yep, was thinking exactly the same thing. Absolutely 0% percent chance he appears in person. No way he'd run the risk of not being able to leave the country. And THAT will be the tell-tale sign that he knows he's guilty.

    • Or perhaps via a ouija board circa 2122.

  • Sam Bankman-Fried Says He Will Testify Before Congress On FTX Collapse...

    ...as long as he is allowed to play League of Legends [dailysoapdish.com] during his questioning.

  • Ponzi scheme (Score:3)

    by The Evil Atheist ( 2484676 ) on Monday December 05, 2022 @06:48PM (#63106046)
    He outright admitted to participating in Ponzi schemes in interviews.

    • Re:Ponzi scheme (Score:5, Interesting)

      by laughingskeptic ( 1004414 ) on Monday December 05, 2022 @07:16PM (#63106114)
      He admitted to taking the money people gave him to buy crypto for them and doing whatever he wanted with the money while manipulating an electronic register that declared that he done what he said he would do. They said "buy me bitcoins", he said "I'll buy myself a $100 million condo". This isn't a Ponzi scheme, it is straight up embezzlement. He also let Caroline Ellison take whatever she wanted whenever she wanted to make crypto bets. While the cypto market was in a bull run her returns were probably covering his embezzlement, but when crypto winter hit, these are the kind of people who keep doubling down until there is nothing left. There is a level of intent at the beginning of a Ponzi scheme that requires more thought than SBF seems to have put into this. He seems to think people were giving him money to play with and it was perfectly OK to do what they were doing.
  • Don't listen to all the variants of "maybe he IS innocent because he sounds so stupid." He's doing the sociopath thing of trying to seem like a babe in the woods because sociopaths have a knack for appearing as victims of circumstance. It allows them to never take responsibility, internally or externally. They're simply sad they got caught. P.S. Maxine Waters is bought and paid for by SBF directly, so anything she says publically is just posturing.

  • That will be more like a cosy tea party with delicious cookies.

  • ...but shouldn't this guy be already in jail? With all his assets seized or something?

  • I suspect he will get lost on his way to Congress.

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