Bloomberg: How did SBF's elite parents help him build a crypto empire?

Source: Max Chafkin & Hannah Miller, Bloomberg

Translation: Felix & Joy, PANews

At Sam Bankman-Fried's (SBF) home, Larry David is a family favorite. So when SBF's parents received an email from their son, their excitement was understandable. SBF wrote that his company FTX will air an advertisement during the 2022 Super Bowl, with David as the lead actor.

This irritable comedian has played a series of skeptics in history, basically the role of David in the HBO TV series "Curb Your Enthusiasm" in the New Stone Age and Elizabethan versions (Note: "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is a comedy created by Larry David based on his life in the Los Angeles film and art circle). In the video, someone will demonstrate an invention-wheel, light bulb, Walkman, and finally FTX. And David will reject each invention one after another. The ad will warn viewers that if they don't invest in cryptocurrency, they will miss a historic opportunity to get rich. The slogan is: "Don't be like Larry."

SBF's parents are very fond of it. "Surreal," SBF's mother Barbara Fried wrote. SBF's father Joseph Bankman expressed how happy and proud he was. A few days later, employees received some additional feedback from Sam's brother Gabe. He asked his father if he could play a role in the advertisement, saying that his father was too modest to make the request himself. In a sense, this request was strange. Joseph Bankman did not have a formal position at FTX at the time, nor did Gabe. Gabe runs a non-profit organization supported by FTX that is dedicated to preventing epidemics.

Shortly thereafter, Joseph Bankman appeared on set and filmed the scene where David strongly opposes the "Declaration of Independence". When told that "the people should have the right to vote," David incredulously replied, "Even stupid people?" Joseph Bankman, wearing a powdered wig, shouted, "Yes!" FTX spent about $20 million to produce and air this 60-second ad, which can be seen here. Around the same time, Joseph Bankman joined the company as an employee.

Screenshot of FTX's Super Bowl ad featuring Larry David

A person familiar with the advertising production said that in FTX's inverted logic, the decision to have the boss's father play a role is significant. Like most of the people interviewed for this story, the person requested anonymity to avoid being associated with the chaotic bankruptcies, numerous class-action lawsuits, and several criminal cases. To some extent, Joseph Bankman is the founder of the company.

Long before their son was accused of fraud, both parents had outstanding careers. They met at Stanford University in the 1980s and taught at the law school for more than 30 years, living on campus and raising two sons. Joseph Bankman is a tax expert known for his dedication to making US tax law more friendly to low-income citizens. Barbara Fried is an authority on legal ethics and is highly respected in progressive political circles.

At the time this advertisement was aired, critics warned that FTX was using highly risky financial instruments to attract uninformed investors, many of which are banned in the United States. When these funds were transferred to a hedge fund owned by SBF without their knowledge, the money disappeared. FTX went bankrupt and filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.

Bloomberg Businessweek Cover

The person leading the bankruptcy proceedings for FTX is John Ray III, who previously oversaw the bankruptcy case of Enron. However, he has stated that this case is even worse. (Note: The Enron scandal refers to the bankruptcy case of Enron Corporation in the United States in 2001. Enron was once one of the world's largest energy, commodities, and services companies. However, on December 2, 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy protection in the New York bankruptcy court due to financial scandals, making it the second largest bankruptcy case in US history.) SBF has been accused of using customer funds for his own, his family's, and other insiders' benefit, and is seeking to recover some of the funds. For SBF, the more ominous aspect of this criminal case is that it will be heard in New York City on October 2. Prosecutors have not charged SBF's parents with any wrongdoing, but have charged SBF with fraud, money laundering, and bribery. SBF's net worth was estimated to be $26 billion at its peak. This case could result in SBF spending the rest of his life in prison. However, he has previously denied any wrongdoing and attributed the losses to mismanagement rather than criminal activity.

Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried have avoided much of the scrutiny surrounding FTX. This is at least in part because they have not fully disclosed their roles in helping their son build a large business and political influence group. Instead, they are often depicted as bystanders, frequently shedding tears and providing emotional support for their son during his frequent court appearances. But their names are almost certain to come up during the trial. The defense team has indicated that the team's strategy may be partially influenced by advice received from lawyers, including his parents.

The spokesperson for the couple, Risa Heller, refused to let Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried be interviewed. Previously, Risa Heller stated that besides being supportive parents, the two have little to do with FTX. Heller said that Barbara Fried has never worked for the company, and Joseph Bankman's brief tenure was mainly focused on charity work. Last year, SBF told The New York Times that his parents "had no involvement in any relevant part of his company."

Former employees and business partners have stated that their impression at the time was not as such. Legal documents show that Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried were crucial to their son's transformation from a clumsy entrepreneurial man to a cryptocurrency tycoon. This couple has made huge profits from FTX, earning a net profit of $26 million in cash and real estate in 2022 alone. They were frequent visitors to the company's office, encouraging employees and being included in internal communications. Their reputation and connections were crucial to the success of FTX.

As stated in a complimentary article by one of FTX's largest investors, Sequoia Capital, their child seems to be "born for the role of founder and CEO of a cryptocurrency exchange." This article attempts to explain why one of Silicon Valley's most respected venture capital firms chose to offer $150 million to a young man who played computer games at an investor presentation, and provides two pieces of evidence to support its claim. First, SBF briefly worked at a trading firm on Wall Street. Second, his parents are law professors at Stanford University.

In Silicon Valley, no one wants to think of themselves as privileged. Reading Ayn Rand's works (note: Ayn Rand, a famous philosopher of the 20th century. Her philosophy and novels emphasize the concept of individualism, rational egoism, and completely laissez-faire market economy) often angers venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who claim that their decisions are not based on calculated reasoning. However, the reflexive elitism of Silicon Valley is so obvious that it goes without saying. The vast majority of investors favor companies run by white people, whose founders usually come from a small group of elite universities, while avoiding anyone who deviates from their shallow understanding of what a successful founder should look like, talk like, and behave like. Some openly discriminate against entrepreneurs over 30, those with accents, and anyone who behaves as if they are not yet wealthy.

In this extremely privileged world, the most privileged place is Stanford University - the birthplace of companies such as HP, Sun Microsystems, Cisco, Yahoo, Google, and PayPal. Barbara Fried has a background in Harvard University, Harvard Law School, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Paul, Weiss law firm. In 1987, Barbara Fried came to Harvard as a lifelong professor and rented a house on campus. A year later, she met Joseph Bankman. Joseph Bankman graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Yale Law School. After working as a tax lawyer in Los Angeles, he came to Stanford to teach trial advocacy. After Joseph Bankman received tenure in his second year, Barbara and Joseph (as they were known on campus) publicly acknowledged their relationship. They moved in together, and in 1991, when Barbara Fried's rented house was sold, they bought it.

Bankman and Fried's home on the Stanford University campus

SBF's childhood home, and also the place where he was "softly detained" in the first half of 2023, is located at the end of Cooksey Lane. It is valued at $3.6 million, but this is more a result of Palo Alto's decades-long real estate boom than a reflection of its luxury. The house is a fairly ordinary gray Craftsman building with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a spacious porch, and a swimming pool, situated on a large plot of land surrounded by towering trees. Behind the property is the Lou Henry Hoover House, a modernist building that was once the home of former President Herbert Hoover and is now the residence of the Stanford University president.

During SBF's childhood, he was surrounded by a group of young intellectuals - including law professors and law students, but also sociologists, engineers, artificial intelligence researchers, classicists, and social scientists. On Sunday evenings, Joseph Bankman would order takeout or make something simple like spaghetti, and they would invite 15 guests to sit down in the dining room and chat, usually about philosophy and politics. SBF and Gabe, even in their teenage years, would sometimes join in the conversation. Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried are proud and staunch do-gooders. The couple, who are not married, as they tell their friends, believe it is unfair that same-sex partners cannot marry. Paul Brest, former dean of Stanford Law School, said: "They feel that things that are not open to others should not be exploited. They are very ethical people."

Joseph Bankman in 2021 at Stanford Law School

When Joseph Bankman was young, he had a head of black curly hair, which his son inherited, along with his likable attitude that his son did not. The couple sent their child to Crystal Springs Uplands School, a $60,000-per-year prep school for Silicon Valley kids. By then, Joseph Bankman had become one of the most important experts on US tax policy. He proposed a pilot program for the California government to tax them. The plan drew strong opposition from tax preparation companies and small-government ideologues, and made Joseph Bankman a hero of reform-minded liberals.

For other scholars, Joseph Bankman is a sympathetic and tolerant mentor. Jay Soled, a professor at Rutgers University, recalled the scene where Joseph Bankman comforted him after his speech failed. "Joseph is such a person," he said. "There will be another time, and you will only progress." In 2009, while still teaching all courses, Joseph Bankman entered medical school to become a clinical psychologist. After completing his internship, he began working as a part-time cognitive behavioral therapist, while teaching an elective course developed with Barbara Fried to help law students manage anxiety.

Barbara Fried is an intellectual who is smarter than her husband. Although she is popular on campus, she is also famous for causing student anxiety while helping them control it. Her academic research focuses on a branch of ethics called consequentialism, which holds that the consequences of behavior are more important than abstract concepts of right and wrong. These ideas have become a kind of family belief. The philosophy is to do good for as many people as possible, but to summarize it in a less kind way, it is "the end justifies the means".

Barbara Fried

Barbara Fried is the most famous paper focusing on the "trolley problem", which is a famous thought experiment involving a train destined for tragedy. It is mainly used by philosophers to debate moral choices: should you divert the train and kill the person standing on the next set of tracks, or do nothing and let a group of people on the main road die? Barbara Fried's paper argues that this problem is absurd and masks the moral choices that policy makers face in real life, such as how much assistance to provide to the poor or how much healthcare to provide to the uninsured. "There are hundreds of thousands of pages on this topic," said Paul Brest, former dean of Stanford Law School. "My feeling is that after solving the trolley problem, there is nothing more to say."

SBF has placed his mother's self-righteousness at the center of FTX marketing. While his company may officially engage in the sale of cryptocurrencies, it is merely a means of generating income for a life-saving mission. In an advertising campaign featured in major fashion magazines, SBF and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen appeared, quoting the FTX founder as saying, "I participate in cryptocurrency because I want to have the greatest global impact forever." Barbara Fried's work is repeatedly referenced in her son's biography, often used to suggest that SBF is not a cynical billionaire.

Barbara Fried's second famous article is more relevant to the current situation of her son. This article was published as a cover story in the quarterly Boston Review in 2013, advocating for a more tolerant attitude towards offenders. "The philosophy of personal responsibility has destroyed criminal justice," wrote Barbara Fried. The title of her article is "Beyond Blame".

SBF

Operating a cryptocurrency business is always legally complex, aside from the promise of doing good deeds. In 2017, SBF founded a hedge fund called Alameda Research aimed at exploiting price differences between cryptocurrencies traded in Asia and the US. Soon, the fund transferred huge amounts of money between continents, in a way that looked (as he boasted on a podcast) exactly like money laundering. Alameda found it difficult to open bank accounts.

SBF needs a lawyer. Fortunately, there is someone who is very suitable. In August 2022, Joseph Bankman said on the FTX podcast: "From the beginning, as long as I am useful, I will lend a helping hand." He added that the company did not have a lawyer at the time, "and I think my role was very obvious."

Former Alameda staff said that Joseph Bankman helped draft early legal documents. Invoices from Alameda's law firm Fenwick & West show that Joseph Bankman was a participant in the meeting, indicating that he was involved not only in tax issues but also in the development of marketing materials for FTX and FTT.

FTX is headquartered in Hong Kong, but the Hong Kong government began cracking down on cryptocurrencies in 2021. A source familiar with FTX's business said that Joseph Bankman played a key role in the decision to move to the Bahamas, where there are almost no restrictions on digital currencies. The specific details were arranged by Daniel Friedberg, who was personally hired by Joseph Bankman and was a former lawyer at Fenwick & West law firm before becoming FTX's general counsel.

For employees, the impression of SBF is that he often consults his father. A former employee said that when someone suggested legal advice, SBF would usually say it sounds good, but he wants to "call Joseph Bankman" first. The employee also said that almost all lawyers working for Alameda seem to be very friendly to Joseph Bankman.

Former employees have said that SBF sometimes has difficulty making eye contact when dealing with employees, and may be blunt to the point of being cruel, while his father is very good at dealing with people. Joseph Bankman's training as a therapist has made him an excellent listener, and he is also an energetic conversationalist. Joseph Bankman asks about employees' personal lives, participates in cricket matches (a sport that employees are passionate about), and attends company dinners. Barbara Fried has also attended FTX dinners, but is less visible in the office. They are both mediators between staff and children. If SBF says something harsh or difficult to understand, his father will try to explain or simply say that he understands that his son may be difficult to get along with. Another employee recalls that Joseph Bankman was seen as a "lovable old man, a capable but non-threatening figure who could prevent his son from losing control in the company."

However, the most important role played by Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried was to win the trust of people for their son, otherwise these people may not have been inclined to do business with a rough parvenu. According to two insiders, in 2021, when SBF was in talks with Sequoia Capital for a large investment, the company was interested in supporting a global cryptocurrency exchange, but was concerned about potential legal and regulatory risks.

FTX is headquartered overseas and operates on the legal edge. To put it euphemistically, the founders of many competing companies seem to be morally flexible. Zhao Changpeng of Binance is under investigation by US and other authorities. He denies any wrongdoing but refuses to disclose the exact location of his company's headquarters. BitMEX co-founder and CEO Arthur Hayes was sued for failing to prevent money laundering on the platform. According to a federal criminal indictment, he boasted of setting up BitMEX's headquarters on the Seychelles, a small group of islands in East Africa, because bribing regulators there only "costs a coconut." He resigned and eventually surrendered to authorities before pleading guilty.

FTX's basic business is similar to Binance and BitMEX, but SBF firmly believes that his long-term goal is to obtain approval from US regulatory agencies. In addition, he has something that other companies do not have: the endorsement of a former commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. According to insiders, after a former prominent official of the US SEC called, Sequoia Capital was convinced to invest. The former US SEC official had previously informally consulted with the company on previous transactions and is now teaching at Stanford University. The former official spoke in support of FTX's legal strategy, which involves conducting business overseas while striving to win approval from US regulatory agencies, and also mentioned that SBF happens to be his friend's son.

This kind of endorsement is one way, "Sam's parents undoubtedly opened the door for him," said a person involved in SBF's efforts to get American politicians to accept his company.

At that time, Barbara Fried had already established a left-wing super political action committee "Mind the Gap", which positioned itself as a Silicon Valley faction of the "resistance movement". The organization provided advice on where to use campaign donations for well-known technology donors, including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. The elite donor circle welcomed a new member in 2020: Barbara Fried's son, who donated over $5.5 million to the Democratic Party and Democratic Alliance groups, immediately making him a member of Washington, D.C. In 2022, he donated about $40 million.

Barbara Fried provided funding directly to the candidate recommended by Mind the Gap. Former FTX executive Nishad Singh admitted to funneling FTX client funds to political causes supported by Barbara Fried and donated $1 million to Mind the Gap in 2021, making him the largest donor in the PAC's recent election cycle. Mind the Gap has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Joseph Bankman

Meanwhile, Joseph Bankman often accompanies his son to meetings with regulatory agencies and elected officials. Joseph Bankman also appears as a spokesperson for the company's charitable activities at FTX events. He still advocates for tax reform, but now he sometimes raises a new interest: cryptocurrency.

During his appearance on the FTX podcast, Joseph Bankman promoted a pilot project he runs in South Florida that provides digital currency wallets for the poor as a substitute for bank accounts. "If you're not part of the financial system, everything becomes more difficult," he said. "The cost of cashing a check is high. The cost of transferring funds is high. So this is a national shame." Joseph Bankman promised that FTX will solve this problem.

In magazine introductions and television interviews, SBF appears very simple. He wears worn-out sneakers, lives with roommates, drives a Toyota Corolla, and donates all his savings to charity. In early 2022, SBF told Bloomberg reporters, "You will soon not find a truly effective way to spend money to make yourself happier. I don't want a yacht."

In fact, SBF and his core circle actually enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle, as described by the staff of the Super Bowl advertisement, the office felt like the Emerald City in "The Wizard of Oz". The company purchased luxury real estate worth hundreds of millions of dollars, including a top-floor apartment worth $30 million at the most luxurious resort in the Bahamas, where SBF and his partners reside. They rented a private plane for themselves, and because Amazon did not always provide service to the island, they also rented online packages. And - as the bankruptcy application shows - they even bought a 52-foot yacht. It was purchased by Alameda for then-company co-CEO Sam Trabucco.

SBF's parents seem to have also shared in the "spoils". They travel first class, sometimes on private planes. Upon arriving in the Bahamas, they often stay in a $16 million beachfront apartment. FTX spent approximately $250 million to purchase the residence and over thirty other properties on the island. SBF's parents have stated through their spokesperson that they consider this property to be company property, not their own.

During an interview with The New York Times, SBF expressed a similar view. "I know this is not their long-term asset," he said. "I don't know how it was written."

According to reports, a sales order obtained through a public record request in the Bahamas shows that SBF's parents signed as joint owners of the apartment on April 7, 2022, with a Bahamian notary public as a witness. The document does not mention FTX and refers to the property as a "vacation home." "During Joseph Bankman's work in the Bahamas, the house was used as temporary housing," said a spokesperson for the couple in a statement. "External lawyers confirmed to Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried that FTX will have all beneficial ownership of the property and agreed to record this in writing."

Around the same time, Joseph Bankman received a gift of $10 million from his son. FTX bankruptcy trustee Ray filed a lawsuit claiming that SBF obtained the money by borrowing from an account containing customer funds. According to the complaint, he did so after consulting with his father, who was then a senior advisor for personal and professional legal affairs. The lawsuit alleges that the loan was never formalized - there was no loan agreement, promissory note, "or other indication that SBF took these funds from Alameda for the benefit of his family." His father transferred nearly $7 million to a personal bank account; the rest he kept on FTX.

Considering the continuous rise in the price of digital currencies at the time, it seemed like a logical decision for Joseph Bankman to leave some of his savings in FTX, not to mention an opportunity to practice his newly adopted values. However, within a few months, market-wide selling resulted in him losing $1 million and ultimately jeopardizing FTX itself. As the company faced bankruptcy, SBF publicly claimed that everything was fine while seeking help from his father to minimize the losses. "FTX's assets are sufficient to cover all customer assets," he wrote on Twitter (now known as X social media platform) (later deleted), "we do not invest (misappropriate) customer assets."

Behind the scenes, his father conveyed a very different but ultimately more honest message: FTX was in trouble and needed cash. An insider said that on November 7, the day after SBF released false information, he and his father went into hiding with other executives, trying to deal with what they called a run on the bank. Joseph Bankman conveyed the same message to investors, including Trump White House press secretary and financier Anthony Scaramucci, saying he first heard of FTX's trouble on November 7.

Scaramucci said that Joseph Bankman described a "liquidity mismatch" of about $1 billion in a phone call earlier that day. However, in a second conference call later that day, Joseph Bankman said that the actual number was $4.5 billion. Finally, Scaramucci learned from another FTX employee that the actual amount was $7 billion. "I think Joseph Bankman wanted to help his son, but he got caught up in the situation," Scaramucci said. "You want to consider the absolute best for your child."

SBF and his mother

In the next few days, Bankman appeared in emails sent to the Bahamian Attorney General and the country's top securities regulator. They received information about possible misappropriation of funds and sent increasingly frantic messages, in short, asking what had happened. SBF copied his father, trying to delay their trip. He mentioned a "liquidity gap" and promised that the company was doing its best to find investors. In a subsequent email, his father also copied this email and proposed to repay Bahamian investors before anyone else - a proposal that federal prosecutors believe is essentially an attempt to "buy" influence in the country.

Just before filing for bankruptcy, Bankman urged regulators and creditors to avoid making hasty judgments. Sources say his initial stance was that the managers of FTX were just errant children. He explained that they would return the money, and everyone could continue with their lives.

However, SBF's parents did not attempt to return the cash. They did not explain the reason, but the lawsuit filed by Ray on behalf of FTX creditors suggested a reason, which is that they needed the money to provide funding for their son's criminal defense.

SBF was arrested in mid-December last year and was subsequently extradited to the United States and granted bail. The $250 million bail was provided by two colleagues of his parents at Stanford University, as well as the deed to his family's house as collateral. During the waiting period for trial, SBF was required to stay at home. This sudden change shocked his friends and faculty at Stanford University, who had just gotten used to seeing the kid they knew as a crypto billionaire at Joe and Barb's. Now, he has become one of the masterminds behind one of the largest fraud cases in American history. On his way home, security barriers were erected and the road home was blocked. Students and journalists stopped to watch; SBF's parents told friends that they had bought a German shepherd because they were worried about their safety.

"All of this is sick conspiracy," said Tim Rosenberger, who graduated from law school earlier this year. "Do they want to hire a new professor? Who will teach tax law?"

In the group chat of former employees before FTX, there was a heated debate about whether their parents were aware of the alleged crimes. Meanwhile, friends of the couple have been struggling to understand how two people known for their morality could commit such a serious ethical mistake. In August, prosecutors charged Ben SBF with leaking destructive information about a former employee and attempting to intimidate a witness. His lawyer denied the charge, but he was sent to the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center.

When her son was detained, Barbara Fried tried to approach him in tears from the audience. "That's my son!" she said when a US marshal stopped her. She watched as SBF took off his jacket, untied his tie, and bent down to untie the shoelaces on his dress shoes according to standard procedure. As his mother wept, his father put his arm around her shoulder.

Friends say they are very worried about this couple. Since SBF's arrest, neither parent has taught a class. Joseph Bankman canceled his course, and Barbara Fried retired from school two months before FTX collapsed and resigned from her political nonprofit. "This is happening to a family full of wisdom and enthusiasm for public welfare," said John Donohue III, a Stanford University professor and family friend. "This is devastating."

"It's hard to think 'how could they not know?'" said another friend who wished to remain anonymous. "The most reasonable explanation I can understand is that it's blind faith. They haven't grasped the full situation."

This is certainly reasonable. If the prosecutor's account is accurate, SBF's fraudulent behavior is anti-social - not only deceiving investors, but also deceiving business partners and even his own employees. It is no exaggeration to say that he may have used his parents - and their illustrious academic careers - to build an exploitative enterprise. SBF has repeatedly claimed to be a billionaire. Why doesn't he buy a good house for his parents? Why can't his father join Larry David to shoot the Super Bowl?

However, critics argue that even if they were unaware of the alleged embezzlement, parents should still bear some responsibility. FBarbara Fried's moral compass can explain how her son was able to overlook obvious ethical flaws in service of what he believed to be a greater good. Following this line of thinking: if the end result is billions of dollars going towards charitable organizations that aim to save the world, then what's a little bit of embezzlement?

Meanwhile, Joseph Bankman provided legal advice, but it now appears at least somewhat questionable. He was involved in multiple decisions, including the launch of FTX, the creation of FTT, the company's attempts to curry favor with politicians, and dealings with Bahamian regulators, all of which have been criticized by regulators and prosecutors as potentially illegal. Joseph Bankman was also involved in the hiring of FTX's general counsel, Friedberg, who has been accused of enabling fraud and attempting to cover up efforts to expose it, including bribing potential whistleblowers. These allegations were made in a lawsuit brought by FTX creditors, which included a comment from Joseph Bankman to his son urging him to rely on Friedberg, "so we only have one person responsible for everything." Friedberg denies any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime, but critics say his background is enough to give pause - including working at a Canadian online poker site that was accused of cheating players during his tenure.

Next is Stanford University itself. Just a month before SBF's arrest, Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to 11 years in prison for fraud at medical device company Theranos Inc. She founded the company on campus during her student days and recruited well-known instructors, employees, and directors. With the Holmes case, along with the resignation of Stanford University President Mark Tessier-Lavigne due to allegations of data manipulation in several academic papers, some professors and students began to question why the school did not discover the misconduct case sooner.

Defenders of Stanford University, including Donovan Hou, pointed out that Stanford University is not the reason why SBF is suspected of committing a crime; it is at most just their background. However, background is important. Coming from a place like Stanford, with accomplished parents, can change the world's perception of your shortcomings. Some behaviors that may be seen as unserious, such as playing video games during a conference, can become clear evidence of talent.

Over the past 10 months, SBF has been trying to shift the blame onto former employees, lawyers, and corporate competitors, insisting that their mistakes were due to carelessness rather than malice. "I messed up" were his exact words in his congressional testimony before his arrest. He seems to be saying that he was just a child far beyond his abilities.

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