Yes. What the performatively cynical crowd is missing is that SBF, like Elizabeth Holmes, stole from the rich.
Even for people who believe that everything is 100% corrupt 100% of the time in the American justice system, SBF going to jail should be seen as confirmation of that bias.
I believe SBF stated in a recent video that it might be possible for US clients to be “made whole” (indirectly stating everyone else will be fucked). So if he manages to return funds to US investors, would he still be likely to be prosecuted?
Everything is probabalistic. That would reduce the odds by reducing the number of powerful people putting pressure on prosecutors. But plenty of rich and powerful non-US people have influence in the US.
And stealing from the rich isn't the only factor at play here. Even if all of the money was returned to everyone, there are plenty of rich/powerful people and institutions who dislike crypto for various legit and corrupt reasons, so there would still be some pressure to prosecute.
IMO he's fucked, even aside from the stealing from the rich angle. It's just too high profile and too embarrassing to too many regulatory agencies. He's well into "make an example of" territory.
SBF also stated that he just needed to raise $8B and everything would be okay. I'm not sure if he's delusional or lying, or some combination of the two, but I think we're past the point where we should believe much of what he says.
Even if we take him at face value here (which we probably shouldn't) it isn't just money, he also made the rich people look like idiots. So retribution feels inevitable.
Madoff had ‘borrowed from Peter to pay Paul’ and the victims were rich enough that they didn’t really spend the money so it was possible in the end to shuffle almost all of it back to its rightful owners.
Henry Kissinger (former United States Secretary of State);
Jim Mattis (retired Marine Corps four-star general);
George Shultz (former United States Secretary of State);
Richard Kovacevich (former CEO of Wells Fargo);
William Perry (former United States Secretary of Defense);
William Foege (former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
She is like a little FTX in that sense.
But I don't believe the Clintons' are uniquely corrupt, rather just as corrupt as similarly powerful US politicians. I am not a believer if QAnon conspiracies.
She had connected investors who felt defrauded. That increased the odds of her getting convicted. If they thought there was still a chance of getting value out the odds would probably lean the other way.
I think if the system were as corrupt as you guys say, Holmes would have committed suicide or suffered some debilitating accident or something. Going to jail for just a few years doesn't feel like much of a dose of vengeance
