FTX inner circle helped itself to $3.2B, liquidators say

In fresh filings in the FTX bankruptcy case, the cryptocurrency-exchange-slash-hedge-fund's liquidators say they've uncovered $3.2 billion (£2.6b) in payments and loans made to disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and his inner circle.  The revelation can be found in the schedules of assets and liabilities and statements of …

[alain williams]

How did they think

that they would get away with it ? Surely they must have realised that it would eventually be noticed.

Maybe their business plan is: 10 years in prison and then go & live off the $30 million that they have somehow laundered & stashed somewhere. $3 million/year is a decent salary, I could retire on $30 million.

[DS999]

Re: How did they think

I think they thought bitcoin would keep going up, so they could keep pumping it with new investors and taking margins from high interest loans due to even higher returns. Bernie Madoff managed to keep his ponzi scheme alive for three decades, SBF only managed three years. Bad luck for him!

[localzuk]

Re: How did they think

Exactly this. They built a ponzi scheme on the back of crypto, the biggest ponzi scheme going.

Its ponzi schemes all the way down.

[Lon24]

Re: How did they think

Letting Sam out on a bail bond of $250 million does seem a bit risky. If they haven't found his hidden stash, he could still make a profit by running. Or if some of his creditors are friends of Vlad then he needs to avoid doorknobs and tea.

[Glenn Amspaugh]

Re: How did they think

Shoulda tacked on a charge for stealing cigerettes or commiting vandalism; lock him up for years on such charges.

[stjs16]

Re: How did they think

Depending on who they have defrauded prison may be the safest place

[An_Old_Dog]

Safe Havens

Depending on who they have defrauded prison may be the safest place

I'm confident in the defrauded millionaires' abilities to arrange an effective prison hit on SBF. I'm not confident those defrauded millionaires will let him off so relatively-easily.

(Icon for, "No chance of your escape, Mr. B-F.")

[Charlie Clark]

Re: How did they think

In America the point is not that the fraud will get noticed, but how much you can make before it is and how much a deal costs so that it doesn't go to court, because very few do.

[Erik Beall]

Re: How did they think

I think their plan was mostly wishful thinking about not imploding and thus not being able to quash complaints about financial crimes. The amount they straight up transferred to their personal accounts was over 10x the amount they transferred to politicians on both sides (apparently thinking wishfully that they had purchased some control over future investigations, which maybe if it hadn't blown up so completely they just might have...). Based on what's being revealed about how SBF viewed the political contributions transactionally (sadly large ones nowadays certainly are), it's clear he thought he was playing the game the biggest criminals play, he was paying a percentage in protection for when some investors get burned and the SEC comes after him. He miscalculated the strength of his position just a smidge.

[An_Old_Dog]

New Emails Incoming

"Hi, I am Sam Bankman-Fried, and I need your help. I have some funds I need transferred to the Republic of Singapore. You can help by paying the bank the transfer fee, and in exchange I will give you 10% of the total fund ..."

[well meaning but ultimately self defeating]

More effective

Than altruistic

[Potemkine!]

$3,200,000,000... That's close to the GDP of Suriname, a country with a population over 600,000.

Some ask " How did they think that they would get away with it ", but the cryptocurrenshit scam does continue. The same fraud still happens today.

[gandalfcn]

Shocked, I tell you, shocked. Well, not really.

[Glenn Amspaugh]

Croupier : "Your winnings, sir."

[Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese]

There are a couple things that boggle my mind here.

Firstly, the fact that SBF et all thought they could do this sort of stuff and get away with it

Secondly, the sheer scale of the numbers involved and the fact there are so many people ready to plough so much money into cryptos**t

[Fruit and Nutcase]

"...former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison ... banked $6 million"

Either she wasn't as greedy, or the crypto bros kept her out of the spoils, with SBF being more equal than the others

[Anonymous Coward]

She is a woman, enough said...

[Michael Wojcik]

I wonder whether the weirdo authoritarian fans of "Queen Caroline" will be disappointed in her small take, read it as proof of her enduring goodness, or assume she just managed to hide her embezzlement better.

[Paul Hovnanian]

Those who don't learn ...

... from history are doomed to repeat it.

Perhaps SBF should have studied our savings and loan crisis. What happens to people who use banks as their own private playthings. And who the Keating Five were.

[JacobZ]

Whistleblower

Article: "Salame has also not been charged, having reportedly been a whistleblower who tipped Bahamian officials off to financial malfeasance at FTX."

Was his tip "Hey, these people are paying me $87M they don't have"?