Why did Caroline Ellison, the CEO of Alameda Research, Gary Wang, a co-founder of FTX, and Nishad Singh, an FTX executive, all plead guilty to fraud and testify that Sam Bankman-Fried was directly involved in the fraud? How do you explain the evidence such as spreadsheets, code, emails, and internal documents that point toward FTX committing fraud and Sam Bankman-Fried being involved?
Because they were given the option by the prosecution, “Take this plea and help us nail Sam or spend xx many years in prison.” There’s no smoking gun that shows “Sam knew he was committing fraud and did it anyways.” But the prosecution managed to convince a jury of it anyways.
You’re right to be concerned about the incentives of cooperators who had their own legal exposure. But those witnesses stood up to days of cross-examination about specifics by SBF’s lawyers. Those attorneys had access to documentary evidence with which to try to impeach the witness testimony—so it’s not like the witnesses could just make up a story here.
Circumstantial in relation to his intentions. This is also circumstantial, but one would have to ask themself why would someone of seemingly exceptional character, who was deemed trustworthy by many prominent people, who was relatively disinterested in personal wealth yet increasing in net worth faster than anyone at the time, who was raised in a good family at an ivy league university… son to legal scholars, of exceptional intelligence, with no criminal record or shadiness to speak of, decide to throw it all away for a few extra bucks? The collective probability there is likely less than 1%. Also, leading up to and continuing past the final days of FTX, a respected journalist (Michael Lewis) happened to be keenly observing Sam, his character, his interactions, and how he thinks/operates. He has stated that he doesn’t think Sam did anything intentionally wrong, that it was more a matter of disorganization or mismanagement.
Why did Caroline Ellison, the CEO of Alameda Research, Gary Wang, a co-founder of FTX, and Nishad Singh, an FTX executive, all plead guilty to fraud and testify that Sam Bankman-Fried was directly involved in the fraud? How do you explain the evidence such as spreadsheets, code, emails, and internal documents that point toward FTX committing fraud and Sam Bankman-Fried being involved?
Because they were given the option by the prosecution, “Take this plea and help us nail Sam or spend xx many years in prison.” There’s no smoking gun that shows “Sam knew he was committing fraud and did it anyways.” But the prosecution managed to convince a jury of it anyways.
You’re right to be concerned about the incentives of cooperators who had their own legal exposure. But those witnesses stood up to days of cross-examination about specifics by SBF’s lawyers. Those attorneys had access to documentary evidence with which to try to impeach the witness testimony—so it’s not like the witnesses could just make up a story here.
What about the spreadsheets, code, emails, and internal documents?
Circumstantial in relation to his intentions. This is also circumstantial, but one would have to ask themself why would someone of seemingly exceptional character, who was deemed trustworthy by many prominent people, who was relatively disinterested in personal wealth yet increasing in net worth faster than anyone at the time, who was raised in a good family at an ivy league university… son to legal scholars, of exceptional intelligence, with no criminal record or shadiness to speak of, decide to throw it all away for a few extra bucks? The collective probability there is likely less than 1%. Also, leading up to and continuing past the final days of FTX, a respected journalist (Michael Lewis) happened to be keenly observing Sam, his character, his interactions, and how he thinks/operates. He has stated that he doesn’t think Sam did anything intentionally wrong, that it was more a matter of disorganization or mismanagement.
Are you saying he did everything the prosecution alleged he did, but he didn’t have bad/criminal/fraudulent intentions in doing it?