Alex Wice@AWice
about the recent sbf pardonposting.
think its clear ryan salame got raw dogged simply for refusing to testify against sam. imo thats a glimpse into that the us court system is more kangaroo than many want to admit. this is because they basically create the case that will lead to the result, then bully everyone into testimony. this is not justice, its a kangaroo court.
i think people chunk the trial and then take sam's guilty verdict as proof that he stole the money, but his argument that he was not allowed to present evidence is also largely correct. actually, kaplan fucked him at every turn: didnt allow him to use "relied on lawyers" as a defense (negates intent), that customers will get paid back (negating harm), excluded solvency evidence, excluded discussion the 12th section of t&c that says if you agree to margin lend its risky and you may not get paid back, forced "dry run" of defense which is highly unusual to say the least, and many other things. imo kaplan is a highly suspicious judge.
the trial narrative was largely a fiction constructed by prosecutors and s&c to stick all the blame on sbf. s&c is as smart as they are malicious and i wouldn't be surprised if they end up having contributed to this bad pr. imo it is not even controversial to say that what the jurors saw and heard is not anywhere an accurate portrayal of what happened. they think sbf stole all the money and disappeared. reality is a tiny fraction of the money was actually missing at the time (yes even valuing all sam coins at zero, valuing all claims as in kind, etc.), probably (my guess) from the alameda blowup within the margin lend system after the market giga puked.
sbf was a sloppy ceo to the point that he was prob criminally negligent. but if he is a thief, where is the money? all these transfers are on chain, so there is always a paper trail. sbf at every turn tried to keep ftx afloat (pay customers), simply because it is in his own best interest to do so, so to me the motive component of fraud doesn't line up either.
in fact if he didn't sign bankruptcy, i think ftx customers would of been paid faster and the whole shebang would still be running today (similar to bitfinex) as it was also a highly profitable business.
at the end of the day how shady sbf lines up in the crypto hall of fame wouldn't even crack the top half. he was just a dude way in over his head that rose to his level of incompetence. but in this industry, might makes right, so the real mobsters get pardoned, guys like sbf get chewed up, and the system pats itself on the back.
i don't have to agree with that system. i think ryan salame shouldn't be in jail for refusing to testify and for having no involvement with the customer loss of funds, getting ringed up on a chickenshit process crime and then the penalties tripled to make an example on their threatening him into submission. this to me is a completely uncontroversial opinion.
similarly i don't think sbf's trial was remotely fair to him either. none of these views should be controversial but they apparently are, i think because people have bit so hard that this is the guy that stole the money. so its easy to say "fuck you, thief", it is easy to parrot the exact same slop opinion but i would invite anyone who disagrees, to ask ai about the trial and what happened, as all of the points i mention can be proven.
i don't have any bone to pick either, i don't need to be proven right. i am simply reporting how i see it, and let that be that. free salame. free sbf.
