What do we think might have been evasive in his answers?
I would have to re-listen to the interview to see what mistakes he admitted. But I thought it was pretty clear what mistakes he admitted to, personally: failure to manage risk (e.g., understanding how likely it would be that there would be a simultaneous drop in collateral value, and a sudden withdrawal of deposits); failure to maintain corporate controls (e.g., creating red flags or account pauses, if certain accountholders like Alameda exceeded lending limits); and improper account segregation (admitted he did not know about commingling of funds). He did not admit to specific fraud, but that’s consistent with the notion that he did not commit to fraud. He did admit to a number of things that, to me, provide a completely plausible account as to how FTX failed. And they are errors of risk management and even arrogance—but not malice or deceit.
He starts the entire conversation saying how he’s the CEO so he’s in charge and responsible. But then he claims ignorance about so many things! He blames it all on Alameda, but it’s left unclear how Alameda got FTX money to trade with in the first place. I definitely don’t feel like he explained clearly what went wrong and where he messed up. The way it sounds like, he had no clue about the things that went on. That’s not communicating openly and transparently!
When there’s a possibility of lying, you IMO can’t just go by your gut feeling “does it sound like this person’s story makes sense to me?” If you do this, you’ll believe any liar who’s good at coming up with plausible excuses. I think people have a pro-social duty to ask themselves “How would someone who tells the full truth sound different than someone who covers things up?” Maybe you did that and we disagree about how to do that comparison. But for me, it seems too suspicious how often Sam claims ignorance and how the narrative at the end doesn’t make much sense. I feel like if I lost so much money, I’d know exactly what went wrong and I could explain it so it makes sense.
He was so evasive about the “co-mingling of funds” questions. His answers were about how there’s margin/collateral and how Alameda had a position that got larger without him knowing and he was surprised. But that’s not the question! He’s being asked why the fuck Alameda was gambling with his exchange’s money. He repeatedly dodged that question. (After repeated dodgeings he then talks about opening bank accounts and stuff like that, but that’s awfully late and still doesn’t explain much. “And I’m still looking in to that...” Really?!)
Here’s a more recent interview with hard-hitting questions and follow-up questions. The evasiveness becomes more obvious when the interviewer is very prepared and doesn’t immediately move on to the next question when an answer is evasive.
It looks like SBF admitted to fraud in this interview. He admitted to knowingly commingling funds in a way that directly violates the terms of service, and he admitted that was their general business practice.
What do we think might have been evasive in his answers?
I would have to re-listen to the interview to see what mistakes he admitted. But I thought it was pretty clear what mistakes he admitted to, personally: failure to manage risk (e.g., understanding how likely it would be that there would be a simultaneous drop in collateral value, and a sudden withdrawal of deposits); failure to maintain corporate controls (e.g., creating red flags or account pauses, if certain accountholders like Alameda exceeded lending limits); and improper account segregation (admitted he did not know about commingling of funds). He did not admit to specific fraud, but that’s consistent with the notion that he did not commit to fraud. He did admit to a number of things that, to me, provide a completely plausible account as to how FTX failed. And they are errors of risk management and even arrogance—but not malice or deceit.
He starts the entire conversation saying how he’s the CEO so he’s in charge and responsible. But then he claims ignorance about so many things! He blames it all on Alameda, but it’s left unclear how Alameda got FTX money to trade with in the first place. I definitely don’t feel like he explained clearly what went wrong and where he messed up. The way it sounds like, he had no clue about the things that went on. That’s not communicating openly and transparently!
When there’s a possibility of lying, you IMO can’t just go by your gut feeling “does it sound like this person’s story makes sense to me?” If you do this, you’ll believe any liar who’s good at coming up with plausible excuses. I think people have a pro-social duty to ask themselves “How would someone who tells the full truth sound different than someone who covers things up?” Maybe you did that and we disagree about how to do that comparison. But for me, it seems too suspicious how often Sam claims ignorance and how the narrative at the end doesn’t make much sense. I feel like if I lost so much money, I’d know exactly what went wrong and I could explain it so it makes sense.
He was so evasive about the “co-mingling of funds” questions. His answers were about how there’s margin/collateral and how Alameda had a position that got larger without him knowing and he was surprised. But that’s not the question! He’s being asked why the fuck Alameda was gambling with his exchange’s money. He repeatedly dodged that question. (After repeated dodgeings he then talks about opening bank accounts and stuff like that, but that’s awfully late and still doesn’t explain much. “And I’m still looking in to that...” Really?!)
This is helpful. I might give the interview another listen with these particular issues in mind.
Here’s a more recent interview with hard-hitting questions and follow-up questions. The evasiveness becomes more obvious when the interviewer is very prepared and doesn’t immediately move on to the next question when an answer is evasive.
It looks like SBF admitted to fraud in this interview. He admitted to knowingly commingling funds in a way that directly violates the terms of service, and he admitted that was their general business practice.