The court has decided: Sam Bankman Fried is spending 25 years in prison for his deeds. But what exactly led SBF to this fate? Well, it appears that fraud and money laundering are the culprits behind this messy situation. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes right now...
I wonder who would, but somehow he deserves it. "Jail is not that bad, after all," as one individual remarked in a live chat with SBF, Do Kwon, 3AC founder, and several others. You know what's really bad? Investing your life savings in something that a vegan freak decides to play with.
Placing all your money in a company or exchange, or worse, taking out credit and investing in FTX or buying Bitcoin and storing it on FTX while the so-called CEO is selling your Bitcoin to purchase his company's tokens or expensive villas, is truly dreadful.
If we weren't in a bear market and the price of BTC wasn't already plummeting along with the entire market, SBF would probably have gotten away with it. He would have inflated FTT enough, dumped it at some point, and repurchased people's BTC that he used for personal gain.
But the bear market screwed him, and did so in a pretty big way... Now he's facing 25 years in jail for his actions, and some argue that it's not enough for what he did. Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, received a double life sentence plus 40 years with no chance of parole for creating a site from scratch where individuals could buy or sell anything with Bitcoin.
I suppose this man was also aware of what his site was facilitating. He knew that people would use Bitcoin to buy and sell drugs on his platform. Perhaps he didn't fully grasp Bitcoin (the most traceable form of money) when he built it from scratch, but his only crime was creating a website.
He didn't sell drugs or encourage others to do so, yet he received a harsh sentence... Sam Bankman Fried deliberately siphoned users' funds and received 25 years in prison, while Do Kwon, who is guilty of something similar (personally, I lost $3,500 in one day with LUNA), is still not extradited from Montenegro.
Ross Ulbricht probably wasn't fully aware of what he was getting into, but both Do Kwon and SBF were. This is precisely why SBF disconnected during that live chat I mentioned in the introduction. He knew exactly what he was doing, but he thought he could somehow escape consequences.
Perhaps aided by the market or the political parties he sponsored over the years. He poured $12 million into both political parties in the US, but it seems that didn't help. Politics don't care about crooks; they just exploit them.
Personally, I don't wish jail upon anyone. I can only imagine how it feels to live there, but SBF has to somehow be held accountable for his actions. He caused a lot of suffering to many around the world. FTX disrupted the market and devastated people's savings, and he must face the consequences for that.
You know what's ironic? He didn't even enjoy the wealth he accumulated. He slept on the floor and ate raw vegetables all day, dreaming of helping humanity. What a hypocrite!!! How can you claim to help humanity when you're essentially gambling with the funds of your clients?!
Jail's probably not that bad, who knows... He could have lived comfortably while conducting legitimate business with his company, but instead, he took his chances and it backfired. Now he's paying the price for it.
Thanks for your attention,
Adrian
