Yesterday the big finance news was that fraudster Sam Bankman Fried was arrested in the Bahamas by the âauthoritiesâ. Today, good ole âI am going to save the world with my richesâ SBF was supposed to be testifying in front of the House Financial Services Committee. Maxine Waters played kissy face with SBF until she didnât. Word came down from up on high after SBF did the media circuit with
Andrew Ross Sorkin and George Stephanopoulos.We stayed tuned. In front of Ms. Waters's committee, Republicans were going to get a shot at questioning SBF. They wonât be getting that opportunity.
There are all kinds of rumors circulating about FTX. Here is a couple:
Federal money was laundered through FTX in the Bahamas and away from US regulators and funneled back into the Democratic Party in the form of campaign donations.
SBF siphoned money off the operation to enrich himself.
SBF siphoned money off the operation and funneled it to his parents who became Bahama Island real estate investors on professor salaries. They were law professors at Stanford and I am sure earned a good buck but not enough to buy over $100MM dollars worth of island real estate.
Here is some very cynical speculation. The Feds arrested Sam Bankman Fried to make sure Republicans didnât question him publicly.
SBF would have been tight-lipped in that hearing because he would have been under oath. A fraudster cannot risk committing perjury and going to jail for a simple offense like that. But, the questions that would have been asked by Republicans would have driven more speculation and further questions that would be left unanswered and hanging in the air.
Given SBF donated $30MM+ to Democrats in the last election cycle they couldnât have that happening.
Additionally, Democrats like Ro Khanna were totally embarrassed by the way they acted last May in a hearing on FTX's potential clearinghouse solution. CME CEO Terry Duffy was correct in saying the FTX solution would have tanked the market and led to all kinds of problems. But, remember how Khanna went after Duffy and insulted him?
Khanna is basking in the afterglow of the Twitter Files release where he said censoring Trump was a bad idea. This hearing would have given him a new platform to redeem himself.
SBFâs parents said yesterday they wonât be teaching this quarter at Stanford and would be staying in the Bahamas. Apparently, they are very worried that the legal expenses SBF might incur could bankrupt them.
SBFâs former beau, Caroline Ellison, who âranâ the trading arm of FTX known as Alameda Research is rumored to have lawyered up and will be copping a plea. Turns out she must think she doesnât look spectacular in the color orange.
If Department of Justice's head Merrick Garland doesnât bring charges soon and SBF rots in prison like a January 6th defendant, you can safely assume the Democrats have something to hide.
It does take time to prove a white-collar fraud case. This isnât like a bank robbery or a murder. There are a lot of statements to pore over and you need to follow the money trail to see exactly where it goes, plus you have to prove intent. John J. Ray is doing that right now. Thatâs why in his mea culpa SBF pleaded ignorance or just said he made a mistake thinking he could hide behind that pleading.
By the way, any good trader who wants to commit fraud knows that the Bahamas isnât the place for you. Itâs Brazil.
If SBF goes to jail and suddenly passes away, rest assured he didnât kill himself.
The Dem strategy is to run out the clock while waiting for other events to overtake the current story--and for the public to grow bored with the incomprehensibility of it all.
Who among the broad public actually grasps what FTX was, or did? Or what are bitcoin, a stable coin, a token, or a cryptocurrency? Or that a 29-year-old once purportedly commanded wealth on the order of tens of billions of dollars? Legitimately? And had to conduct this enterprise from the Bahamas?
Sam Bankrupt-Fraud may be saved from being questioned by Congressional Republicans, but who thinks anything would be revealed--beyond his repeated mea culpas already offered to Stephanopoulos and Sorkin?
It's not like Bankrupt-Fraud is going to reveal corruption like Serpico testifying to the Knapp Commission...
I mean, who doesn't remember the exciting drama of Republicans questioning Robert Mueller at the conclusion of the 22-month Russia collusion hoax investigation?? Gripping, right?
I have trouble remembering a Congressional hearing that measures up to the hype of a Broadway play cancelled after its opening night performance...
Does anyone feel like FTX was a massive company run by overgrown college kids? I look at this guy (SBF) and I'm thinking of the arrogant nerd scheming up plans in his dorm room to "outsmart us all."
Did this guy get any training on finance, securities law or running a business, whatsoever? It's amazing to me that so many people just piled in on this with huge amounts of money, but with no diligence on how this company was really run.
I watched his interview with Stephanopoulos and was dumfounded by his answers and idiocy. It's as if he never had a thought in the world about what he should be doing to protect the billions of dollars under his leadership. And two law professors as parents! My parents were working class, and I learned to protect every nickel, because we didn't have more to give.
To me, SBF's life is a life of true privilege. When you grow up (or don't, in his case) and think everything will just take care of itself, then you have never truly worked, nor do you have any business running a small business, let alone a billion dollar behemoth.
Wow.