Martin Shkreli breaking down the sentencing SBF is facing having gone through the process himself. Claims that it is going to be close to life. Starts at about 2:35.

Martin Shkreli breaking down the sentencing SBF is facing having gone through the process himself. Claims that it is going to be close to life. Starts at about 2:35.

Yeah I posted that on the previous page - Marty really breaks down that points system they use.


You notice they had this hearing yesterday for his bail - but we never got a Guilty/Not Guilty plea out of him? When is this dude's arraignment?

Sounds like the lawyers might be working on a plea deal for him. It will be extremely difficult for him to go to trial if they already have 2 cooperating witnesses who have pled guilty for doing the same exact crimes that they claim SBF did with them.

Shoot, I missed that. Free bump anyways.

The 2 witnesses working against him absolutely puts him in a hard place. Forgot where I heard, but supposedly the sentencing could theoretically be reduced if SBF works to get some of the money back to victims. This was one of the theories why there was a "hack" right when FTX collapsed. It was SBF taking the remaining customer money so that he could use it as a bargaining chip for reduced sentence.

Sam Bankman-Fried walked out of federal court on Thursday essentially a free man.

News outlets all around the globe reported that Bankman-Fried got out of jail by posting a gargantuan, unprecedented “$250 million bond.” In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Roos described it as the “largest ever” pretrial bond.

But, as it turns out, there is less than meets the eye in this “$250 million bond.” In fact, a lot less.

In the typical federal case, a bail bondsman would charge between 10%-15% of the amount in cash to issue a surety bond or “bail bond.” In the case of Bankman-Fried’s astronomical bond, 15% of $250 million would be $37.5 million. But Bankman-Fried did not pay $37.5 million for his bond. No, Bankman-Fried actually paid no cash at all for his “$250 million bond.” Nothing. Zero.

There is a second way to acquire a bail bond. A defendant, or someone on their behalf, may pledge collateral in the full amount of the bond. Then, if the defendant fails to appear in court, the pledged collateral is forfeit to the court. So, in Bankman-Fried’s case, that would mean he would need a benefactor to step up and pledge property worth $250 million to get the bond. But that did not happen either.

Instead, Bankman-Fried’s parents promised to pledge as collateral their Palo Alto, California, home, where he'll also be staying under house arrest. The Palo Alto home is rumored to be worth $4 million. And that is the full extent of the collateral pledged to guarantee the $250 million bond. No other collateral was posted or promised.

So where did that $250 million figure come from? Great question.

In this case, Bankman-Fried was not required to post a conventional bail bond. Instead, Bankman-Fried was simply released from custody on something called a personal recognizance bond. The personal recognizance bond contains Bankman-Fried’s solemn promise (and his parents’ promise) to pay the court $250 million if he fails to show up for trial at the appointed time.

Yes, you read that right. Bankman-Fried walked out of court essentially a free man by signing a piece of paper where he promised to pay the court $250 million if he decides to flee to another country with no extradition. This, of course, is totally absurd.

The attempt by the prosecutor’s office to sell this as some extraordinarily onerous bail condition would be laughable. Except the millions of customers who Bankman-Fried defrauded aren’t laughing.

Who could have imagined that the Bahamas would have stricter bail laws for financial fraud than the United States?

Caroline Ellison, a close associate of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, apologized in court this week as she pleaded guilty to fraud and other offenses, telling a judge that she and others conspired to steal billions of dollars from customers of the doomed crypto exchange while misleading investors and lenders.

“I am truly sorry for what I did,” Ms. Ellison, the former chief executive of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s crypto-trading firm, Alameda Research, said in a New York federal court, according to a transcript of the hearing made available Friday. “I knew that it was wrong.”

Ms. Ellison, 28 years old, and former FTX chief technology officer Gary Wang, 29, pleaded guilty Monday during separate hearings without notice to the public. Both agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation in exchange for the prospect of lighter sentences.

Ms. Ellison, a former romantic partner of Mr. Bankman-Fried, pleaded guilty to seven criminal counts, including fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. During her hearing, she admitted to conspiring to use billions of dollars from FTX customer accounts to repay loans Alameda had taken out to make risky investments.

FTX executives had enacted special settings that granted Alameda access to an unlimited line of credit without having to post collateral, pay interest on negative balances or be subject to margin calls, she said.

“I also understood that many FTX customers invested in crypto derivatives and that most FTX customers did not expect that FTX would lend out their digital asset holdings and fiat currency deposits to Alameda in this fashion,” she said.

Ms. Ellison also said she and Mr. Bankman-Fried worked with others to conceal the arrangement from lenders, including by hiding on quarterly balance sheets the extent of Alameda’s borrowing and the billions of dollars in loans that the firm had made to FTX executives and associates. Mr. Bankman-Fried was among the executives who received loans from Alameda, she said.

Under questioning from the judge, Ms. Ellison said she knew what she was doing was illegal.

She said that since FTX’s implosion, she has worked hard to assist in the recovery of customers’ assets and aid the government’s investigation.

At the hearing, U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams granted the request of federal prosecutors to temporarily seal all documents connected to Ms. Ellison’s plea agreement. At the time, Mr. Bankman-Fried was in a jail in the Bahamas after the Justice Department requested local police arrest him, and he had not yet formally consented to his transfer to U.S. custody.

“We’re still expecting extradition soon, but given that he has not yet entered his consent, we think it could potentially thwart our law enforcement objectives to extradite him if Ms. Ellison’s cooperation were disclosed at this time,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon told Judge Abrams.

A lawyer for Ms. Ellison declined to comment. Ms. Ellison was ordered released on $250,000 bond at her plea hearing. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment.

Mr. Wang pleaded guilty in front of the same judge. He told Judge Abrams he knew what he was doing was illegal and wrong. “As part of my employment at FTX, I was directed to and agreed to make certain changes to the platform’s code,” he said, adding that he executed the changes knowing they would give Alameda Research special privileges on the FTX platform.

A lawyer for Mr. Wang declined to comment. He has previously said that Mr. Wang takes his responsibilities as a cooperating witness seriously.

The Justice Department charged Mr. Bankman-Fried earlier this month with eight counts of fraud and conspiracy connected to the implosion of his company. He was released from custody on a $250 million bond on Thursday after making his first court appearance in New York following his extradition from the Bahamas. A federal magistrate judge set strict restrictions on Mr. Bankman-Fried, including ordering him to stay in his parents’ Palo Alto, Calif., home and be under electronic monitoring.

Mr. Bankman-Fried has said he made mistakes that contributed to FTX’s demise, but he has denied engaging in fraud.

Judge Abrams, who presided over both plea hearings, said in a filing Friday evening that she would recuse herself from the case. Her husband is a partner at a law firm that advised FTX in 2021, as well as represented parties that may be adverse to FTX in other proceedings, the filing said.

A new judge hasn’t been assigned to the case.

Write to Corinne Ramey at corinne.ramey@wsj.com and James Fanelli at james.fanelli@wsj.com

Sources exclusively told The Post Tuesday “Moneyball” writer Lewis spent several hours inside the residence just hours after Bankman-Fried had landed Friday, presumably talking about the latest twist in his crypto-downfall which has seen him go from a 30-year-old billionaire to facing up to 115 years in prison in a matter of weeks.

Bankman-Fried’s collaboration with Lewis is said to have been ongoing for around six months, long before financial irregularities were spotted, but it was first reported after FTX’s collapse in November, when entertainment newsletter The Ankler leaked a note from Lewis’ publishing agency pitching the book to potential movie rights buyers.

TLDR: Sam took FTX customer funds and lent them to Alameda. Sam then borrowed the funds from Alameda to make a shell corp that bought RH shares, and used the shares to secure a loan from BlockFi. Now BlockFi, SBF, and FTX are fighting to claim the shares.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/carolin...d=hp_lead_pos3

Remorse is a little late and the fact that she knew she was wrong (obviously), she got caught and that is why she is confessing. She needs to be nailed and allow limited leniency for testifying against the ring leader, as she was the co-ring-leader.

I think we're gonna find out down-the-line that this guy's gonna get a pretty Kosher deal. They will drag out the process for months if not years and wjem people forget about him and stop caring he will get off easy.

Fong added they had “touched upon his time in Fox Hill,” but would not be drawn on how he’d fared in the jail.

“He’s trying to gather his take on events…. He sounded like he was trying to gather his thoughts about what happened,” Fong added, noting Bankman-Fried was on his computer as they talked, but was not gaming.

Looks like SBF may go to trial. Bold move.





https://www.wsj.com/articles/sam-ban...d=hp_lead_pos2

Maybe he will get a jury that nose whats uo

Yeah maybe his lawyers couldn't negotiate him a good plea deal with the Southern District.

His folks are paying $10k per week in armed security now. Plus lawyer fees for a trial could be in the millions. Probably all getting paid for with stolen FTX money anyways.


https://nypost.com/2022/12/27/ftxs-s...rmed-security/

I think we're gonna find out down-the-line that this guy's gonna get a pretty Kosher deal. They will drag out the process for months if not years and wjem people forget about him and stop caring he will get off easy.

I agree. His sweetheart bail package deal is rather indicative of how they will treat him.