7 tech leaders who ended up in prison

Yesterday, Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Let's look at 7 other tech leaders and entrepreneurs who broke the law and went to prison.
#tech #hacking #thecodereport
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🔖 Topics Covered
- Sam Bankman-Fried Prison Sentence
- What happened to the Silk road?
- Who is Ross Ulbricht?
- Largest tech companies to collapse
- Why did Elizabeth Holmes go to Jail
- What are the consequences of hacking?
- How do hackers get caught?
- Famous cybersecurity cases

[@Fireship]

Don’t end up in jail bro… Learn how to accept payments legally in my new course fireship.io/courses/stripe-saas

[@vaisakhkm783]

can i use stripe for making silk road clone from prison??

[@TraceursMonkey]

Your videos are what keeps me sane on the floating line of coding. Thanks

[@_aullik]

"Learn how to accept payments legally" by becoming a politician in the US

[@gatonegro187]

I was in prison. It fucking sucks, you're surrounded by hundreds of dum dums.... Fireship I was craving this more than crack. Can you send me some of those Fireship dmt meds?

[@cryptout]

Good thing I never learned PHP

[@peteruelimaa4973]

Lying to customers... nothing Lying to investors: straight to jail

[@CoconutKhajiit]

Well, goes to show who really sets the rules

[@josiah_maddux]

Customers can sue companies for lying

[@ChamplooMusashi]

@@josiah_maddux and win absolutely fucking nothing

[@ckpioo]

is it really that surprising?

[@eus9]

Lying to the public as a politician: also nothing

[@thehansboi]

Nikola suing tesla for brand confusion is hilarious

[@fuzzy-02]

Manwhile Nikola Tesla rolling in his grave. RIP

[@tsuwaque]

​@@fuzzy-02he's generating electricity

[@chris-hayes]

@@fuzzy-02 Are you sure Nikola is rolling in his grave? or was he just pushed down a hill?

[@bakerlanglnonglait4502]

​​@@chris-hayesNikola rolling at the bottom of a hill

[@RomanvonLandeskrone]

Nikola had some balls. Mad respect.

[@GnarMarv2]

Fact: You can still find Ross Ulbricht's Stackoverflow account, its pretty insane. Like a piece of important history lol

[@gatonegro187]

Can you point me to it? Google didn't help me

[@gatonegro187]

I found it stackoverflow/users/1249338/frosty

[@spektred]

​@@gatonegro187 Google wants all your data, trust the Duck instead..

[@IAmSuyogJadhav]

@@gatonegro187search for the username "frosty" on stackoverflow. That's him

[@evaldssontom]

@@gatonegro187 His Stack Overflow username is frosty His most upvoted question is "How can I connect to a Tor hidden service using cURL in PHP?"

[@jparmstrong2003]

"for profit prison system" 😂😂 Nailed it!

[@LionMister]

It's true though. The govt contracts them and they get paid per prisoner.

[@octoale]

The subtle sarcasm was on point about this issue.

[@vdynmx]

Love that you included Finfluencers that helped cause FTX damage. Graham & Kevin, we will never forget

[@average.yt.commenter609]

It was so obviously a scam that he made billions. Oh wait it wasn't obvious, and it's not outlandish for a influencer to make that mistake.

[@LARPing_Services_LLC]

@@average.yt.commenter609 beep boop

[@thefakedeal]

​@@average.yt.commenter609 it was pretty obvious

[@ElectrostatiCrow]

​@@average.yt.commenter609I dunno man. If you're a financial adviser who recommends scams, then I don't think you should be giving financial advice.

[@e.nelson]

Use PHP, but don't get caught!

[@simbian5900]

you just outed yourself tho...cant you see the blue red lights outside? xD

[@josha3212]

lool

[@Yeet-eq7ve]

Php? 100 years without parole

[@okie9025]

if you behave well they might let you use JS in prison

[@user-mv4oh8yp1y]

this is possible using jquery.

[@CJTravismizzou]

“He’ll die in prison for creating a PHP website.” Lost my coffee and woke the house laughing.

[@JohnDoe-ch6qy]

Imagine explaining to a average inmate "I got two life sentences for creating a website"

[@mrda5216]

@@JohnDoe-ch6qy the website 💀💀💀

[@luislanga]

Fireship uploads be like: *What's the point of coding these days* *You will not get a job anytime soon, and if you have one, you'll lose it* *Hey, crime pays, sometimes...*

[@meowaves]

lmao

[@alazarbisrat1978]

Next upload: *Today, I'm going to show you how to hack, for educational purposes*

[@celestinemachuca2339]

@@alazarbisrat1978honestly would be lit

[@sansmoraxz]

Not all of them pay. Piracy sucks.

[@manunganga4110]

What about McAffee I thought he would be the first tech bro you mention 😂😂😂😂😂

[@gonderage]

oh man mcaffee's bust was wild. they caught that man based on the EXIF data in a photo he took while he was in hiding.

[@thatsalot3577]

he wasn't a tech bro, he was straight up tech daddy

[@lennyphoenixc]

*past tense

[@catoleg]

In his case they didn't bother to jail him, he just died of unknown reasons 😉

[@nikhilchouhan1802]

@@catolegThey bothered but couldn't actually get him lol

[@gabrielnilo6101]

lesson for developers: Don't lie to the powerful people in our society and don't steal too much from regular citizens, that's the investors job.

[@JasonMitchellofcompsci]

No, that's your job on behalf of investors. Also, it's your job to go to jail on behalf of investors.

[@igordasunddas3377]

No. The lesson is always the same: friggin whatever you do, don't get caught.

[@MarceloDezem]

Also, don't use PHP

[@spl420]

And don't login as admin to illegal sites in public places.

[@user-yw6nw8so2n]

As a developer currently in prison myself, I can agree that going to prison should be avoided at all costs.

[@procrastinatingrn3936]

Are you using prison here as some kind of metaphor as in not being able to go outside?

[@TheManinBlack9054]

​@@procrastinatingrn3936no, I think by prison he means prison

[@marlonsubuyu2012]

Bro is using Starlink

[@ConcerninglyWiseAlligator]

​@@marlonsubuyu2012 Someone didn't get the memo here.

[@auchucknorris]

Which phone is the top ranked for being able to hide in your ass? I feel my current iPad isn't optimal

[@chrishabgood8900]

be a politician, you can do illegal crap.

[@sirrobinofloxley7156]

They ain't called law makers for nothing

[@zheqingzhang6136]

they are controlled by the rich

[@CodingHk]

So sad, Ross getting life is insane and inhuman

[@PAC0TAC0]

No honorable mention to Arron Schwartz? died for the cause of freeing information, was potentially sentenced for 50 years. co-founder of reddit "Air-quotes", was a Y-Combintator alum. You should do a round two for tribute, the guy deserves the mention, to not forget the harshness of our "Wire fraud" convictions for such petty acts.

[@electroencephaloctopus]

I agree with you! That being said, he did already do a video on Schwartz a while ago: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGe2XpWVoJKNgbssi=vQjOaBPLrwhoNJRJ

[@gadget00]

Aaron Schwartz did commit all the crimes he was accused of, and unfortunately is a sad case of "F around, find out"; he was a genius, but the "I'm above the law because I'm smarter than all of you" kind of genius. He made a dumb but incredibly self-destructive mistake and didn't have the fortitude to confront the consecuences, unfortunately. At least Ulbricht had the guts to just take the L and live to hope for a miracle someday

[@Reza1984_]

"Inspired by other php developers who drive a lambo" you did Taylor dirty 😂

[@4RILDIGITAL]

Great summary of some of the biggest downfalls in tech history. It really illustrates the danger of choosing quick success over ethical and sustainable growth.

[@DavidBeaumont]

No, sadly it just illustrates the dangers of getting caught for your fraud. Plenty more fraudsters out there living the rich life.

[@dracula7779]

Being a blabber mouth fraudster is the easiest way to prison

[@lowlink534]

Blablabla ethics bs yadayadayada Our world is ruled by the countries that murdered, raped and slaved the other the best, and now they preach equality and free rights because it sells. Ethics is but a lie by which people deceive each other into taking what's not their to begin with, because nothing is really our to begin with, were just a bunch of atoms that decided that sticking together was the best for them, even if only temporarily. Sustainable growth in such a scenario is only an expression that shows a self served subserviance to a system which is corrupt in and out of itself! #wakeup

[@4.0.4]

No Kim Dotcom? There's a few others as well that could make a part 2, like Aaron Swartz is still serving life in heaven

[@eliehalimi]

Most people don't know Aaron Swartz. Yet, he is probably the most important and influential person when it comes to the internet. May he rest in peace.

[@Migmir1313]

@@eliehalimi There is a whole Fireship video about Aaron kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGe2XpWVoJKNgbs

[@MiniKodjo]

Did kim went to prison?

[@RevenantCovenant]

@@eliehalimiThe founder of Reddit iirc

[@HelldiverULE5-of9rt]

Can't believe there's no John Macaffee on here bro.

[@morpheusFromZion]

I’m surprised Kim Dotcom wasn’t mentioned

[@4.0.4]

Yep he was raided too, in a very public manner

[@sirrobinofloxley7156]

@@4.0.4 Aye, in a very non US country by a very US FBI

[@jooooo9572]

He'll probably get his own video someday

[@svenbjorn9700]

@@jooooo9572 saving him for part 2

[@despareint]

He's a republican shill, we're all in democrats and liberalism

[@jackMeought-fr8vl]

Ross was given such a hard sentence because the government never got any tax money. That's the worst sin, not letting the gov take their cut.

[@ismbks]

screenshotted and sent to the irs, hope you paid your taxes bro

[@liquidsnakex]

Not letting the *cu lt take “their” cut

[@divinecomedian2]

As long as you pay em tribute, they'll even protect you

[@gadget00]

LOL no; he was enabling drug trafficking at country-levels of international trading, let along all other illegal activities brokered on the site. He had it coming, sorry

[@liquidsnakex]

@@gadget00 So what, nobody is forcing you to do drugs and never will. It has zero impact on anyone’s life other than those that want it, notwithstanding the billions that clowns like you steal from others trying to ban it.

[@serioserkanalname499]

3:22 ah, I see Fireship is a man of culture as well.

[@steed3590]

I don't always understand all of what's going on, but I greatly enjoy getting these tech updates. Please, and I hope you will, continue producing them.

[@maddyaurora]

your videos are ones of the best on youtube, amuzing and educative, i simply love it so much thank you

[@ThomasAndersonPhD]

Excellent shoutout to the video sponsors 😂

[@flyguy8791]

Thanking the DoJ and the for profit prison system for making this video possible had me in stitches. Excellent, as always.

[@clintonharold8375]

Fireship is always fire 🔥 with the news ship

[@whyZaya]

You forgot about Razzlekhan, the Versace Bedouin. She was at one point the richest rapper alive by a wide margin after she stole $4b in bitcoin. She is also the worst rapper alive.

[@GrillinDude-ng9kk]

Don't diss the crocodile of wall street, my queen

[@AleksandrStrizhevskiy]

How much software development did she do?

[@onefloatavenue]

The guy who sold Otto probably put the 18-month sentence in his business plan and sequence diagrams when he first set about building it.

[@DanelonNicolas]

man I love your videos ❤ I laughed a lot, like crazy

[@movsesmovsesyan8231]

Mans really waited till the SBF decision 😂

[@bearwolffish]

Wonderfully delivered piece.

[@TheDingsBoms]

Your content is so good man

[@adynat0n]

Probably your most inspirational video to date.

[@MahadeMania]

Fascinating and cautionary! It’s eye-opening to see how even tech leaders and entrepreneurs can find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Let’s hope these stories serve as lessons for others. 🚫🔐👀

[@D3r3NB]

The shoutouts cracked me up 😂

[@dannywidjaya7943]

In other words, no COBOL programmers ever get caught

[@sergiojuanmembiela6223]

No one was able to understand the code.

[@TheScarbro970]

Solid financial advice

[@juangiordana]

No mention of Hans Reiser. That's a crime!

[@gatonegro187]

I was in prison. It fucking sucks, you're surrounded by hundreds of dum dums.... And not only the other inmates. You ask a guard for a knife to cut meat and veggies and it takes him three hours and he comes with a hammer.

[@flinkstiff]

Maybe if you ask him for a hammer he’ll give you a knife? 🤔🤔🧠🧠

[@lawrencefrost9063]

You end up there so you must be one of those dum dums..unless you were framed, unlucky or bad at crime.

[@mjdevlog]

I'm sorry for what you've been through. Btw do you also got beaten by other prisoners there? like the seniors. coz its pretty common in my country

[@july9566]

Oh yeah , I had to dumb myself down when speaking to others in jail , I was shocked how some people in America can’t even read …

[@gatonegro187]

@@mjdevlog ​ @mjdevlog As soon as I got there I hit the gym 5 times a week. I went bench press 40kg->95kg in 3 months. Just make sure you're good with your floors leader (ours was a gang leader 2 meter MMA fighter with smarts) and he kept order and he had fair rules. Shower every 2 days, clean up after urself, cell cleaning once a week. If you had problems with that you had to take him on. So it was quite peaceful while he was there. Once he left the junkies came in and I spent my all time like this: morning I go to work, 12.00 I eat, go outwside and do a little exercise for an hour, go bacjk to work, then dinner and I would just go to my cell and watch dvds, play xbox, read, play guitar, jerk off etc. The junkies are all talk and ego none of them could take me on so they bullshited this kid to attack me and he charged at me from behind while I was doing a cross word puzzle sitting down. He got 3 punches in and was screaming I kill you and then I got up and walked towards him and shouted wtf are you doing?! and he ran away. Then I got my transfer to a more open prison just before my release we lived in these little houses there. But the "stone prison" where I was it's jungle laws there so make friends with the real criminals and stay on their good side and MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS you will be ok. Many people got beat up but they were god damn morons.

[@LiquidSpider]

never thought i'd see a CoC screenshot in a fireship video

[@WormNut]

A bit surprised to not see Hans Reiser.

[@GbpsGbps-vn3jy]

You can just install some distro shit on reiserFS and wait it to break

[@artiefischel2579]

Exactly what I was thinking.

[@sergiojuanmembiela6223]

It was a bit of a news piece back in the day, but to be fair his crime (murdering his wife) had nothing to do with the industry. It was just that he was an horrible human being. BTW, I still remember many "enlightened" slashdot users claiming that it was unfair that he was condemned even if the body of his wife was not produced, to prove even that there was a murder. I do not think any of them retracted when, some years later, he told the authorities where the body was as part of a deal.

[@artiefischel2579]

@@sergiojuanmembiela6223 It did seem to wipe out reiserfs though.

[@jordanmatthew6315]

@ 3:22 if you know the text . . . you know the game. Fireship is a man of culture.

[@chuxmyk]

4:59 And that, little kids, is why you never use PHP

[@mel-182]

Liked the stripe course ad at the end.

[@TheBenjaminsky]

I'm watching this while drinking out of my NS8 mug. Adam Rogas would have been a good addition to your list.

[@gfrewqpoiu]

You should talk about the backdoor in xz that was found that basically installs a SSH master key into all servers with xz 5.6.0 or newer.

[@IAmNumber4000]

“Move fast and break things” Do NOT apply thinking to laws and regulations!

[@Enzoss100]

All i can say about this is that just by his name alone, Sam Bankman-Fried should not have been let into the kitchen

[@gadget00]

Great video; sometimes tech bros have to be reminded that being a genius doesn't imply not going to jail

[@REDIDSoft]

Amazing vídeo txk

[@danielmusa8155]

Sometimes it seems that if you live up to the promise you gave your investors you'll be called a successful genius, but if you fail you'll be called a fraud... Just thinking

[@rentaservice9910]

Wow I’m early, fireship can you do a longer video on SwiftUI ?

[@bileljellouli]

that laravel joke thou !!! fireship now have easter eggs :D cool

[@KevinMarimbet]

Learn to accept payment without going to jail, That ending was nothing but brilliant 😂

[@Gigusx]

4:12 lol that picture is amazing, I hope it's true... Also, crazy sentences for some of these guys when you compare to some sentences given for brutal crimes. /edit, and even when you compare with sentences for mild(er) crimes.

[@divine203]

"With great power comes great responsibility"

[@jonkf7548]

[@warhawksuper]

"With great power comes great respronsitrillitrance"

[@Michael4x]

With great responsibility comes great Blame.

[@TheCommunistRabbit]

With small mouse pad comes great sensitivity

[@cocowmn]

honorable mention to Aaron Swartz. RIP

[@mx338]

People often omit the fact that Ross Ulbricht also tried to place hits on multiple people, who only didn't die because he was scammed or talked to a federal agent.

[@TheEmolano]

Well, that makes the sentence a little justifiyed

[@ScarfaceLittlebee-mj2ch]

Check your sources

[@bananaman9869]

You are right but he was never charged for it. He got his sentence for "non-violent drug crimes". They didn't give that sentence because it was just, it was because they were making an example out of him.

[@MrHamncheez]

that isn't true

[@sleepteam]

Allegedly.

[@wlockuz4467]

Raj Rajaratnam's mug shot was really something.

[@rael_gc]

God, this content is pure gold! Info with developers joking!

[@__Monke__]

You should've mentioned how they distracted Ross by staging a fighting couple so that he couldn't clear out his laptop, and then went in to arrest him.

[@fiddytroisvis]

"Huge shoutout to the U.S. department of justice and for-profit prison industry for making this video possible" 💀💀💀

[@iamachs]

I really love your channel, thank you for all the content you’d create, one thing though, please don’t say stuff like “unfortunately he got caught” even if it is funny, as this might encourage people watching you, all the best, and keep on being great 😊🚀🌟

[@DisentDesign]

modern day slavery in America via corporate for profit prisons is kind of whack when you think about it.

[@Ou8y2k2]

Yeah? Colonialism is slavery is capitalism is fascism is our modern tech feudalism. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

[@Peter-Programming]

No John McAfee? I guess that would require its own video series - so fair.

[@fabriziob969]

That would require a Netflix series + a couple of movies 😂

[@willlacey7621]

Huge shout out to the US department of justice for making this video possible LMFAO

[@NinjasMovieChanel]

As much as I like your news videos I kinda miss the old coding videos where you explored new frameworks and coded some small interesting projects. Anyway keep up the good work

[@gaznightstalker4231]

That CoC screenshot...

[@KryptLynx]

I have mixed feelings about recognising some references :D

[@A2431A]

Time stamp??

[@KryptLynx]

@@A2431A It is not "Call of Chtulhu", it is the other CoC

[@kyuubi3338]

"It would be disappointing if you went to prison without the programming skills you've learned on this channel." Me watching Fireship because funny/informative/interesting and having almost no code skills: (looks away)

[@sklbz-uo8mf]

Still laughing on the reference to Tesla from the company of the first guy

[@alexqhj]

Taylor Otwell reference on point

[@michaelscarn4133]

Anthony is still outside , thriving 😂

[@phyl568]

Moral of the story, stay away from php kids

[@Garcea_linking]

I wonder if this video mentions AI.

[@coldestbeer]

Why are you subscribed to Brrrrack Obama?

[@TheCommunistRabbit]

Why are you stalking the Latina Without me

[@sansmoraxz]

Somebody lock up Devin. He's stealing jos

[@user-ju1yo2ny9j]

Tech leads are usually people who have learned the dictionaries more than their knowledge about technical solutions. And with all that complicated talk, they talk everyone in a company under the table and they can push through their own ideas. Apparently even to the point where they get dirty benefits from it. A company should talk more with actual developers.

[@bilbobeutlin3405]

You should have included the guy from tornado cash

[@Randomynous01]

Some of them shouldn’t be called “tech bro”

[@mx338]

Holmes is a tech girl boss.

[@ME0WMERE]

@@mx338 she's a tech bro in spirit

[@XDarkGreyX]

​@@ME0WMEREif we can call women supporting the patriarchy honorary men or something, we can call her tech sis and honorary tech bro.

[@codesymphony]

bro is a gender neutral term

[@MajorasWrath1]

​@@codesymphonyliterally no, it is short for "brother"

[@opprogram8620]

Makes perfect sense why they got rid of the Silk Road kid.

[@JohnRoodAMZ]

Good shit

[@gabriellbraga7732]

The reptiles were like 🦖: "So we named one of them Bank-Man, and the other ones Gold Sacks, funniest shit ever did 🤣🤣"

[@kootenpv]

Lol the shout out to doj

[@LK-zf8nf]

How could you forget McAfee in this list lmao

[@KaizenCodes]

Cracked up at the promoting of Stripe right after explaining how to become a potential trillionaire on the internet illegally

[@davidlister6328]

Why do you have a CoC screenshot?

[@psdstd]

so we get 7 inspirations to learn his Stripe course

[@Lensbreak]

The longest Stripe Ad ever 😂

[@4thWallMan]

the first one was bonus, since you mentioned 8 of them.

[@JuriBinturong]

Somehow this makes me to want to code in PHP more, I feel like a rebel.

[@iradukundapacifique3706]

I wish i had even the shady business ideas

[@clickbait1602]

Ross ulbricht is my uni alumnus. So proud of him lmaooo

[@paulsaulpaul]

4:13 - "what're ya buyin?"

[@blueguy5588]

Hans Reiser would be a good topic for a future video.

[@gustavoluchi]

genius ending!

[@mosesajila]

First time watching your video immediately it's dropped 😅

[@opprogram8620]

“Not get caught by the law” I like the sound of that.

[@georhodiumgeo9827]

Never don't give up!

[@LJIsak]

Thanks. Was just about to start a billion dollar company.

[@aliefe9730]

4:07 lambo reference: i guess @fireship was also astonished like many others when he saw the legendary twitter post of Taylor Otwell the creator of Laravel framework (posing in front of a lambo with his wife, saying he was on the way to attend a conference)

[@ethanlal4517]

U didnt talk abt Bas Lansdorp and Mars One.

[@VictoriaEvelyn]

Huge shoutout 😂

[@plusah1268]

you know whats funny? in high school economics we had a project about tracking stocks and out of all of the ones I chose, nvidia was one of the lowest ones lol...