I don’t know how the criminal law works. But if it turns out that the money in the FTX Future Fund was obtained fraudulently, would it be ethical to keep spending it, rather than giving it back to the victims of the fraud?
I feel pretty sure that you are not ethically obliged to pay anything out of your savings. And you haven’t done anything wrong so I don’t think you have anything to feel guilty about.
I do not think this will apply to grantees. I think the people most liable are the members of the team running the FTX Fund at CEA. They would have to prove that they have no knowledge of the fraud, if the verdict so says.
I received a small grant from the FF. I was conflicted on whether to take it anyway, given that I didn’t see FTX (or any crypto company) in a good light even before this story. Now I feel somewhat worse about it.
I think there are a few things that would come into play here:
If we give the money back, assuming that’s even an option, does it go to someone in need or to someone rich?
Can we afford it? I think I could, so there’s a big chance I would choose to do this if requested. But I don’t expect anyone to burn their savings for this like Gideon said.
I’m currently participating in a program which was also funded by the FF, and which paid a much larger sum than my personal grant for things like my housing during the time of the program. So on the one hand this is something that for me would be harder to pay back. On the other hand:
At some point we have to consider ourselves far enough removed from the action—it’s not like we chose to get specifically FF money by participating. It’s not even like someone receiving a grant from the FF chose to participate in fraud.
I think, if grant money has been spent in good faith, then it makes ethical sense to treat it as gone and not needing to be repaid. I don’t think anyone should make themselves financially worse off for having received a grant.
I don’t know how the criminal law works. But if it turns out that the money in the FTX Future Fund was obtained fraudulently, would it be ethical to keep spending it, rather than giving it back to the victims of the fraud?
I feel pretty sure that you are not ethically obliged to pay anything out of your savings. And you haven’t done anything wrong so I don’t think you have anything to feel guilty about.
I do not think this will apply to grantees. I think the people most liable are the members of the team running the FTX Fund at CEA. They would have to prove that they have no knowledge of the fraud, if the verdict so says.
Note that the Future Fund team do not work at CEA, they’re a separate organisation
I received a small grant from the FF. I was conflicted on whether to take it anyway, given that I didn’t see FTX (or any crypto company) in a good light even before this story. Now I feel somewhat worse about it.
I think there are a few things that would come into play here:
If we give the money back, assuming that’s even an option, does it go to someone in need or to someone rich?
Can we afford it? I think I could, so there’s a big chance I would choose to do this if requested. But I don’t expect anyone to burn their savings for this like Gideon said.
I’m currently participating in a program which was also funded by the FF, and which paid a much larger sum than my personal grant for things like my housing during the time of the program. So on the one hand this is something that for me would be harder to pay back. On the other hand:
At some point we have to consider ourselves far enough removed from the action—it’s not like we chose to get specifically FF money by participating. It’s not even like someone receiving a grant from the FF chose to participate in fraud.
I think, if grant money has been spent in good faith, then it makes ethical sense to treat it as gone and not needing to be repaid. I don’t think anyone should make themselves financially worse off for having received a grant.