29 votes

Sam Bankman-Fried is not a child

6 comments

  1. triadderall_triangle
    (edited )
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    Ah, but he was rich and the rich tend get handled with kid gloves. He witness tampered twice...Think about that. Most defendants in his shoes would have likely been in custody either immediately...

    Ah, but he was rich and the rich tend get handled with kid gloves. He witness tampered twice...Think about that.

    Most defendants in his shoes would have likely been in custody either immediately or after witness tamper attempt #1. That's not even taking into account all the other violations like using Signal and a VPN.

    Its cool though, it was for football and totally nothing shady. Such is law.

    22 votes
  2. ignorabimus
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    excerpts:

    excerpts:

    Sam Bankman-Fried was apparently adult enough to start his own company, convince sophisticated venture firms like Sequoia Capital to give him hundreds of millions of dollars, and bring in billions of dollars in trading activity. He dated, picked out meals for himself, and even testified in front of Congress to advise on policy. He presumably voted and paid rent1
    and put his own pants on just like the rest of us grown-ups.

    That’s not to say he wasn’t perceived as youthful, or even childish, before the collapse. He cultivated the image. He played video games constantly, and napped on beanbags in the office wearing his uniform of rumpled FTX t-shirts, shorts, and tube socks. It was a useful persona to portray, even before he was being accused of crimes: with the young white nerdy boy genius forming the archetype of successful tech entrepreneur ever since Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, investors are drawn to it.

    But now, more than ever, SBF is benefiting from his childish image. The New York Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin commented in a highly publicized interview with SBF after the FTX collapse that “when you read the stories, it sounds like a bunch of kids who were on Adderall having a sleepover party.”
    Thinkpieces have asked if it all could have just been an honest mistake. Maybe this kid just got in over his head? Maybe this naive boy meant well, and was just trying to do the right thing, and running a multi-billion dollar company was just more than he could handle?

    11 votes
  3. piyuv
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    Another article where playing video games is associated with being childish.

    Another article where playing video games is associated with being childish.

    8 votes
  4. patience_limited
    (edited )
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    I have a pretty strong suspicion that Bankman-Fried's evident neurodiversity (obligatory IANAD, but there's so much evidence...) will be brought up at trial. See also:...

    I have a pretty strong suspicion that Bankman-Fried's evident neurodiversity (obligatory IANAD, but there's so much evidence...) will be brought up at trial. See also: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ftx-founder-sam-bankman-fried-michael-lewis-book-60-minutes-transcript/

    It's not going to fly, of course, because he's lied so gratuitously and flagrantly about so many things he would have known about as a professional quant analyst that it's hard to take any exonerating psychological pleas seriously.

    8 votes
  5. Eji1700
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    You don’t accidentally get a back door to your financial system because you’re in over your head. Everything trying to convey otherwise is marketing bs

    You don’t accidentally get a back door to your financial system because you’re in over your head. Everything trying to convey otherwise is marketing bs

    8 votes
  6. Jakobeha
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    Idk, adulting is hard. I think most people are children in adult bodies The guy allegedly committed a crime though, lying and causing many innocent people to lose huge amounts of money. As an...

    Idk, adulting is hard. I think most people are children in adult bodies

    The guy allegedly committed a crime though, lying and causing many innocent people to lose huge amounts of money. As an “adult”, one of the rules I make sure to absolutely follow is “don’t commit crimes” (and even then, only big crimes)

    6 votes