Sam Bankman-Fried: The FTX Scam

Altruism. Ethics. Corporate responsibility. These are the words that Sam Bankman-Fried hid behind as he used his 32 billion dollar business as a personal piggy bank. This is the story of Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, and the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange.
Chapters
Intro 00:00
Background and Family 00:51
Will MacAskill and Effective Altruism 02:55
Jane Street Capital 04:00
Caroline Ellison 04:35
Founding of Alameda Research 05:26
Hiring Caroline Ellison 07:14
Founding of FTX 08:20
Celebrities, Sponsorships, Politics 11:05
Coindesk Report, Withdrawal Crisis 14:44
Collapse, Investigation 16:57
Fake Ethics 24:03
Patreon: / georgrockallschmidt
Twitter: / grockallschmidt
Facebook: / 100025678273449
Sources
archive.ph/2022.11.10-002447/...
techcrunch.com/2022/11/09/seq...
www.forbes.com/sites/steveneh...
www.theblock.co/linked/149654...
observer.com/2022/11/ftx-aren...
www.washingtonpost.com/busine...
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...
www.forbes.com/sites/zachever...
freebeacon.com/democrats/ill-...
nypost.com/2022/11/14/sam-ban...
www.influencewatch.org/politi...
www.influencewatch.org/non-pr...
www.bloomberg.com/news/newsle...
www.coindesk.com/business/202...
www.coindesk.com/markets/2022...
www.coindesk.com/markets/2022...
www.coindesk.com/business/202...
www.wsj.com/articles/ftx-tapp...
nypost.com/2022/11/11/ftx-fil...
fortune.com/crypto/2022/11/14...
thehill.com/homenews/house/37...
cryptoslate.com/us-lawmaker-a...
www.gawker.com/money/are-thes...
decrypt.co/114719/tumblr-blog...
www.vox.com/future-perfect/23...

[@GeorgRockallSchmidt]

UPDATE: On 11/29/22 Bankman-Fried did a phone interview with KZbinr Tiffany Fong, where he revealed that his political donations were equally split between Democrats and Republicans, but the Republican donations were hidden through dark money groups. According to him, “All my Republican donations were dark. And the reason, was not for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to a Republican because they’re all super liberal. And I didn’t want to have that fight so I just made all the Republican ones dark.” He went on to say that he was the 2nd or 3rd largest Republican donor in the 2022 election cycle. Listen to the interview here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bHXIq6Kah56bhKs

[@basteagui]

Nice interview where's the proof

[@basteagui]

Too bad it's just his own words and the evidence only goes one way

[@yuothineyesasian]

I doubt what he's saying is true. It's just him trying to deflect.

[@icemachine79]

@@basteagui So why would he lie about it now? That makes no sense. It sounds like you're just disappointed.

[@icemachine79]

@@basteagui You _really_ don't want it to be true lol.

[@LddStyx]

"effective altruism" is just "prosperity gospel" for the non-religious

[@Thessalin]

Brilliant comment. Thanks for that.

[@jasonbourneistreadstone]

Brilliant connection! I think that's absolutely right!

[@CardanoWEEDStakePool]

Yep

[@Craxin01]

The philosophy is fine, but you will never find anyone willing to genuinely follow it. No ideology is true.

[@aceflashheart]

"for the non-religious" Is this even right? Just assume that "progressivism" is a religion and then it just *is* prosperity gospel.

[@jordanscott8854]

The “effective altruism” thing reminded me of something one of my philosophy profs said. She said she never trusted anyone who when asked about concrete problems started talking about “values”

[@lordsimonicus3479]

"Look, I need all this money, because I'm going to do something to help people sometime in the future, I promise."

[@AV57]

Effective altruism is good moral philosophy for making personal goals. It’s not something other people should invest in, though. If you personally want to make it a goal to take your banking fortune and give it to the homeless after you hit a billion dollars, fine. That’s all on you. But no one should be investing someone else merely because that person promised they were practicing effective altruism.

[@deadprivacy]

Good concrete is highly reliant on values, mix ratios, set up and cure times, void percentages etc. Sorry...

[@awb2498]

Effective altruism might as well be called "How to be greedy and feel good about it".

[@Louis-wp3fq]

​@@awb2498 Or at least, "how to be in it for personal enrichment and not feel bad about it." That's what people like SBF are really selling to guilt-ridden, Silicon Valley progressive-types.

[@tttm99]

"I need to be rich so I can give it all to the poor. You know... To stop all the rich people like me getting it" One of the great non-sequiturs of our time.

[@saschamayer4050]

But I can't give anything away right now. Maybe later. After I died?

[@tttm99]

@@saschamayer4050 but of course. You're still growing your wealth for maximum effect 👍

[@mudkatt2003]

can't give anything cause im waiting on my government check....

[@iidoyila]

dismissinh this idea completely is stupid tho

[@boozecruiser]

@@iidoyila We could solve poverty by just.... not underpaying workers

[@NASkeywest]

Steal $2,000 worth of stuff for Walmart, get a year in jail. Steal billions, get a slap on the wrist and some fines that don’t even put a dent in the money you scammed.

[@rutessian]

steal 900$ worth of stuff in LA from Walmart and come again tomorrow for 900 more.

[@resetfakemail4685]

@@rutessian Im moving to LA day, 900 per day sounds good

[@Mr_Boifriend]

@@resetfakemail4685yea bro that’s a good deal 👌

[@anodizervintage9622]

And he will end up president someday

[@ultimatedouchebag6760]

be black and Rob 7-Eleven $40, get life

[@Itskilo]

Effective altruism is a great idea but when the giving part comes, I think they are getting politicians confused with "The poor"

[@dinogt8477]

cry

[@matsv201]

Well it never was something else than a scam. Why do you think someone donate half the money they make in trading to a company like that? Because he earned the money fairly? Not a chance, nobody would that. The money was seeded.. just pure money loundary

[@malcolm4737]

What you focus on when you hear "effective altruism" is "altruism". What this scammers focus on is "effective".

[@dyveira]

It's great, except that it's a temporary fix like welfare. You have to treat the root causes of poverty, which politicians and especially a bunch of greasy business cutthroats really aren't interested in. EA is really just a vanity project for rich people to feel good about themselves.

[@d3vastat0r89]

A simple mistake /s

[@pz7510]

it's just adorable that this same scenario keeps unfolding the same way every few months, with some variation of details and scale

[@j.2512]

i am just waiting for the meltdown when the lid is blown on tether. Literally all crypto goes to hell when stablecoins tied to fiat fail, funny isn't it? the future of currency

[@Patrick-bu5vy]

No, the 'genius bubble' is bursting. TSLA will be the final domino to fall.....and it will be spectacular.

[@petercowling6769]

Yeah I particularly love it when the scale bit gets bigger. Its like '20bn call that a robbery, I wouldn't get out of bed for less than 30bn'.

[@dab88]

the more things change, the more they stay the same.

[@chistinelane]

And yet people keep investing in crypto. It's over. The only way to win big is to scam now

[@Nilsis1986]

Nothing says 'effective altruism' quite like giving away other people's money😂

[@Louis-wp3fq]

Socialism!

[@b33byt3]

@@Louis-wp3fq the ball pit is over there

[@hanooi7450]

He is just acting like a politician.

[@MsDragonbal776]

@@Louis-wp3fq except this dynamic exists in capitalist economies as well. How many times have you seen multimillionaire celebrities get on stage/television and beg for donations for some cause or charity when they could easily give up their own wealth and solve the problems to begin with

[@dereksbooks]

@@JohnSmith-mc2zz no it's not. It is the exact same MO as every champagne socialist, including Marx who earned nothing of his own to distribute to anyone. It's easy to play socialist with other people's earnings.

[@casbyness]

A casino built on top of a Ponzi scheme. Not only that, but a casino that secured loans by valuing its stacks of plastic gambling chips in terms of the $$$ numbers printed on them, instead of the actual value of the plastic they were made from.

[@ChooseLoveToday316]

This comment is such a good analogy.

[@casbyness]

@@ChooseLoveToday316 It actually annoys me that so many people use the casino analogy but then fail to follow through with the obvious additional point. i.e. the casino putting up its own plastic chips as collateral, as if those chips were actually worth the abstract values they have during a poker game. It works so perfectly within the bounds of the initial metaphor, and is EXACTLY what FTX really did withh the FTT tokens.

[@alexlee1905]

casino, Ponzi scheme, SBF pretty sums it all up...

[@Cunnysmythe]

I totally believe what he said about the empty shibboleths. There's no way every institutional and corporate head suddenly started passionately believing exactly the same things that most people hadn't heard of a few years before Those people are always inherently dishonest

[@aceflashheart]

It's just human bandwagoning. People flock to whatever they think is going to impress others. Ergo - the relentless virtue signalling by people who are, fundamentally, actually quite selfish.

[@Laotzu.Goldbug]

Yes it's one of the truth things he said and a deeply upsets people because most of the virtue signalers know that they are in fact rabid narcissists.

[@j.2512]

tiny hats think alike

[@thesnowmiser6728]

@@j.2512 yeesh

[@gombocdimensional9050]

@@j.2512 as if there weren't wealthy white, right-wing people weren't also committing all kinds of white collar crime and pretending to be good people while doing so, you're just looking for a reason outside of yourself for the reason you're poor, insignificant and overall pathetic.

[@wyndgrove9452]

The sheer mediocrity of these manifestations of evil cannot be overstated. Nuggets of utter naffness making our world a worse place, one scam trade at a time.

[@spammusubi8596]

Look they’re total pieces of shit, but they were quant traders, which you have to be super intelligent to get a job in. So I wouldn’t call them mediocre. They were definitely talented st something

[@Frahamen]

don't expect this to be the last, or even the worst crypto crash.

[@saschamayer4050]

Crypto Crash? It's a scam that didn't end well for the scammed people. Like all scams do.

[@Frahamen]

@@saschamayer4050 yes

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

I'm surprised there's even a crypto market left by now

[@jamvan1000]

That will be Tether

[@daryl9799]

Crypto isn't going anywhere it will survive.

[@Mokinono45]

This Sam guy lives in a world of petulant immortality, narcotics, child of the elite, egos and playing savior under the pretense of morality. How many classic anti-heroes tropes can we fit in one person?

[@nineteenfortyeight6762]

You forgot the sex cult

[@piip4]

@@nineteenfortyeight6762 Sounds pretty sweet tbh, though he could have afforded some better looking... clients.

[@donaldherman1741]

I think you mean Villain Protagonist. Our society has confused these two terms for three/four+ generations now. Walter White, Michael Corleone, Gorden Grecko. They are not the good guys.

[@tunaskelapa4997]

He deserves to be put in jail.

[@gamesthatiplay9083]

Judging from his body and how he plays video games, he's a man child.

[@andrewsmithphoto]

"She was dressed as a wood nymph... because she was on her way to LARPing party." You know its a weird story when this line gets no further explanation.

[@Louis-wp3fq]

Especially strange as she's CLEARLY a goblin.

[@nomanejane5766]

It wasn't even a cute outfit, just a shirt and skirt, not really sure how that makes her wood nymph

[@andrewsmithphoto]

@@nomanejane5766 Maybe she meant to say wood seeking nympho? She was part of a polyamory.

[@j.2512]

what a disgusting woman, crazy someone looks as ugly on the outside as they are on the inside

[@elvingearmasterirma7241]

@@andrewsmithphoto this comment made me slowly shrivel up and perish inside

[@thejudgmentalcat]

"As long as we make obnoxious amounts of money, it'll be okay, we can call ourselves extreme philanthropists and break every finance law with impunity." Enjoy your Natty Ice, Georg 👍

[@gamesthatiplay9083]

After hearing Bill Gates say he was friends with Epstein for "philanthropy," I then realized philanthropy means something entirely different.

[@sassagrass7095]

@@gamesthatiplay9083 It absolutely does, unfortunately. Tax breaks are the main motivator.

[@bplup6419]

Crazy how he always has the right friend or family member.

[@deansartorel7260]

There are no self made billionaires

[@jasonbourneistreadstone]

And, like Madoff. I was told once that the rich don't think like we do. Now, I see how true that is with each new scam. Dean is right: No self-made billionaires. Don't believe that nonsense.. Rich people come from other rich people and have a lot of backing. Sure, there are a few new members admitted to the Club each year, but that is not the majority. Also, most wealth is inherited. Americans won't accept this because of the constant Horatio Alger brainwashing and "hard work" nonsense. Let me be clear: 99.999% cannot compete with these people because of birth and connections. It really is that simple.

[@hohohopium]

@@deansartorel7260 In fact. The great majority, maybe 98 /99%, are strawmen.

[@jasperhorace7147]

Where are those family and friends now? We’re they part of this enormous con? Did they know what was happening?

[@kitburns1665]

Or SEC friend. Gentler.

[@RADIOSUICIDIO]

Whenever you say "effective altruism" I heard "neo-feudalism". So it kind of make sense that "neo-feudalism" is big on Silicon Valley right now... This has to be the lamest cyberpunk dystopia.

[@holdingpattern245]

that's why cyberpunk is escapist, it's a less lame version of our reality

[@randomtinypotatocried]

The idea of being in a poly relationship with 7 other people sounds so exhausting

[@nineteenfortyeight6762]

I think it was just one woman with a harem of cucks.

[@dodojesus4529]

Especially when that fucking amphetamin junkie is involved

[@YevOnegin]

Its incredibly disappointing to reach adulthood only to find out the James Bond villains of the real world have no genius plans for domination, but instead are just wood elf LARPing nerds who move money around and reply like a fumbling NYT article when asked about anything they're up to. No one liners, no dramatic monologues, no aura of intimidation. Ah, its all so tiresome.

[@DR3ADER1]

Nope, it's funny and expected. Remember, the Russian Tsars were obsessed with midgets and the British monarchs had multiple mistresses. It's the very thing Austin Powers and Silicon Valley mock regularly. Hell, they even come from the same crop of cringe that Vox and the NYT use to hire new writers and editors.

[@apotato6278]

You know, 14 years ago there was a heist in Sweden. It involved careful planning, the theft of a helicopter and ex-Yugoslav Special Forces. It almost ended with the Swedish Air Force diverting fighter jets to stop them. They prevented police intervention with fake bombs and caltrops, they left a decoy helicopter to confuse their pursuers and it ultimately required a Swedish Special Forces Unit to hunt down one of the perpetrators, ambushing him on the Canary Islands. Wanna know how much they stole? 3.9 million dollars. Meanwhile, when we're talking about 8 billion dollars, a sum 2051.28 times that of the helicopter heist, it's just some fat, upper class asshole and his Chinese harem of LARPers who sit around in air-conditioned offices and commit crypto-fraud. We need more heists and fewer scams.

[@SerMattzio]

"He shared a stage with Bill Clinton and _war criminal_ Tony Blair." I love it when Blair gets called on his past, top marks.

[@PogieJoe]

Billionaires: yuck. Learning about the catastrophic downfall of billionaires: delicious.

[@abes.4040]

All the signs were there, but the greediness and the desire to make money were too strong to actually avoid not falling for the scam.

[@gamesthatiplay9083]

Watching independent crypto KZbinrs, they all saw it a month before the fall. Yet none of the business networks found out about it, until after the election.

[@jordanthomas4379]

The combination of wisdom and sarcasm on this channel is legendary

[@speedingatheist]

Crypto fanboys: "Banks are regulated. A few still manage to screw their customers. We don't like banks. Let's instead give all of our money to those kids playing in a totally unregulated market."

[@straightfacts5352]

Rhetorical question: If $hitcoin had an aroma, what would it smell like?

[@doncarlodivargas5497]

For years we have had a regular coin war in my office discussing the phenomenon, where the majority triumphantly claimed "coins" did not need to be regulated, they would work by themselves in some miraculous way, (I was in the more reserved camp) and now, with the "FTW" issue, the coin enthusiasts in the office do not pay attention to crypto anymore, ond one of my colleagues told me there must be regulation, I did not mentioned that with regulation crypto will be "fiat" which they hate

[@dereksbooks]

@@straightfacts5352 Most "crypto" moonbois don't understand what decentralization means. For them, it means any central organization (like Ethereum or Charles Hoskinson) that is not regulated by massive corporations. This is how ignorant these crapcoin gamblers are.

[@kavky]

@@doncarlodivargas5497 Regulation wouldn't necessarily make them fiat. And any new regulations would be on the exchanges like FTX and Binance, not on the coins themselves. I say new because they are already regulated to at least be compliant with KYC laws. Funny enough Bankman was the one spearheading the push for regulation and discussing with Congress about it.

[@doncarlodivargas5497]

@@kavky - as soon as anyone accept regulation and interference from government they will eventually take over, and now "crypto" is only for storage, if it should be used as we use money they will be regulated in the same way as our current currency, and therfore also "fiat" Ironically, in the same moment "coins" are replacing "fiat" the value will be fixed and no longer interesting for speculation, and all coins enthusiasts will loose interest, the motivation today for being obsessed with crypto are a mix of greed and with to be seen as avant-garde, there is an inherent contradiction in crypto it is difficult to get away from

[@jeffpritchard1592]

it's a bizarre phenomenon. People lie, often very transparently, and other people believe those lies. The lying, while terrible, is only half the problem. The other half is the incredible naivete which seemingly compels people to take everything they see at face value.

[@gombocdimensional9050]

i think (especially when it comes white-collar crime) it's the manipulation tactics that are used along with lies that make it more believable to people, once you know what these manipulation tactics are and how they are being used than you'll more than likely not fall for this shit.

[@kxkxkxkx]

I wish everyone were smart enough to take everything at face value 😅

[@zaberfang]

It's because of the long term effects of the government method of brainwashing the citizens which activates whenever a select word or words are spoken to them. Check yourself out and find out what triggers you.

[@jthom0027]

It doesn't help that these rich sociopaths use the media as a way to launder believability. Anytime one of these crooks go down, I believe any media group that gave them a platform should be fined.

[@halilzelenka5813]

If you give part of your money to the poor, you’ll have less capital to reinvest and therefore profits will be less. So you will have less money to give to the poor. Therefore, the way to give the maximum amount of money to the poor is to not give them anything

[@Thessalin]

Ayn Rand wants to know your location.

[@AR-rg2en]

😂

[@nineteenfortyeight6762]

🏆

[@aliciakroeker3360]

He has no conscience, I m sure his parents think their son is a brilliant con man, they must be so proud of him.

[@sassagrass7095]

I mean, SBF's parents are compliance attorneys, so their job was and is basically finding loopholes and how to benefit from them, and how to help other people benefit from them. His parents also were greedy, and a paper his mother wrote about blame shifting is truly baffling..the rotten apple doesn't fall far from the diseased tree.

[@zaberfang]

America is proud of him. At least before he got caught.

[@deansartorel7260]

Effective altruism is what billionaires use to be able to sleep night, without it they would have to admit that they are just greedy and don’t actually give a shit about anyone but themselves

[@user-zp4ge3yp2o]

Yeah it's just another name for 'trickle down economics'. "The richer I am, the more money will fall from my pockets to the peasants beneath me, I'm helping."

[@matturner6890]

@@user-zp4ge3yp2o Trickledown Economics was never an actual economic theory, just a buzzphrase coined by news media.

[@oldmandoinghighkicksonlyin1368]

It’s a rebranding of Masonic pseudo-theology.

[@j.2512]

more like they are sociopaths who know they are greedy and evil but still want to sell you on the idea that its good to let them play social engineers

[@gombocdimensional9050]

@@j.2512 well seeing as your previous comment implied that this only applied to jewish people. it would be great if you got a braincell infusion and pulled your head out of your ass and saw just how prevalent this was with wealthy people of all kinds of races and religions and saw how many jewish activists have fought against wealthy sociopaths fucking over the common man for decades upon decades.

[@jasonthrowaway7386]

Effective altruism is effectively trickle down economics

[@matrix3509]

You mean a media buzzword? Yeah, that sounds about right.

[@MrThebigcheese75]

Yep, and everyone knows that works. Ask Lizz Truss, laughing now with her free 100k+ for being a nasty little incompent.

[@DiomedesStrosMkai]

Oh yes, the problem of poverty, an insufficient distribution of wealth, is cleary to further concentrate the distribution of wealth. Fucking brilliant.

[@vitorafmonteiro]

"Gimme more, then trust me to distribute what me and my altruist friends got excessively concentrated on us. Honest!"

[@chodkowski01]

He was a billionaire until people wanted their money back then he was broke again.

[@Raelven]

Nicely summarized.

[@newerstillimproved]

​@@Raelven That is barely half of the story. The other half --- the key part --- is the crypto "magic": he pulled tokens out of his ass, assigned them value, and people bought them/it.

[@ButterfieldEric]

I’ve seen this story broken down a couple times but I’m glad you’re doing it. I like it better told by you.

[@MsDragonbal776]

Georger did an impressive lead up and background of the main players. The coldfusion KZbin channel goes much deeper into the financial side of things

[@LordmonkeyTRM]

Bankman Freed and Ellison sound like a provincial divorce specialist firm. That message at the end was just what I needed to hear 😘👌♥️

[@Muchoyo]

Specialists in separating people and their savings

[@benweiser22]

So people invest their hard earned money and in doing so SBF gets to claim he has 32 billion dollars? I never understood this...32 billion in deposits doesn't make it the founders money and it drives me crazy that this has been the norm with many of these crypto scams. Hope the people can be made whole eventually.

[@kylebradley3]

I wouldn't hold my breath

[@charlesk22]

I also didn't get in

[@Louis-wp3fq]

If I understand correctly, it's because he was running an exchange. Want your internet funbux to translate into real currency? Be careful who you trust with the task.

[@foch3]

I hope they get taken for everything. You can't cheat an honest man.

[@holdingpattern245]

It's not actually legal to do that, he just did it anyway. Supposedly the company did not even have an accountant?

[@Drforrester31]

While I do miss your movie reviews, I do love these videos breaking down these kinds of corruption stories. Thank you for your hard work, sir

[@drewcampbell8555]

Effective altruism. Could start with eliminating tax avoidance schemes, tightening up regulation (and criminal consequences) and not buying up politicians to keep lowering taxes for the rich.

[@matm4331]

A subject isn't covered until Georg covers it! Thank you...

[@klobiforpresident2254]

Or Patrick Boyle, although he covers finance topics.

[@toppersundquist]

Or Robert Evans.

[@WelfareChrist]

What a masterpiece, I watched this on public transportation and kept laughing out loud at the morbid sarcasm. Great stuff. Defective altruism.

[@Kopeksi]

turns out crypto scams were scams

[@GREATSATANIC]

doing legit good work there Georg, keep crushing the bastards of the world

[@whollybraille7043]

I'm sensing some real negativity towards wood nymphs here. Isn't Wall Street an enchanted forest?

[@archlich4489]

Thursdays.

[@nobody8717]

Point one: all of their "charity" went to organizations ran by themselves. Circular justification.

[@tttm99]

"effective altruism" sounds like the stort of purple-prose philosophy a thirteen year old might come up with, only to wisely outgrow by fourteen

[@abicaksiz]

Great work thank you Georg. You gave a perfect summary of recent events and more importantly where these guys came from. Let me break a joke: FTX investors (more correctly gamblers) have been "effectively altruicised" off their money.

[@sassagrass7095]

That was a good one. Lmao

[@EmeraldLavigne]

Not sure I'll ever trust anyone who spends so much time talking about altruism and how altruistic they are...

[@NefariousKoel]

Usually a good tip-off they're con-men.

[@jthom0027]

Yep. The truly altruistic would never say they are and you would never hear of their charitable work. Anyone who mentions they are altruistic is a narcissist.

[@DerivativeWorker]

You can always tell some fun is going on when you hear the words "hedge fund."

[@larryo6874]

Jim Cramer managed a hedge fund and he bragged about how he could manipulate the market to make money for his clients.

[@eradius]

puts a real smile on my face whenever tony blair is referred to as a war criminal. ofc justice and a yard of rope would put a bigger smile on my face but you take what you can get

[@BeautifulEarthJa]

A man (?) after my own heart!

[@nineteenfortyeight6762]

I hope you know you're gettin' the long line at the airport now, for life

[@davidbonar5190]

would be nice if they flayed kissinger first, and used his hide to braid a rope to slowly strangle lesser war criminals

[@sprobablycancr4457]

I'm tony blair, and I disagree.

[@whatisheartscont2be645]

Effective altruism reminds me of a famous old saying about greed: The more you eat the bigger your appetite gets.

[@sambird141]

The bankman and the squirrel girl took my god damn money

[@eirikarnesen9691]

i would read that comic

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

They didn't take it - you gave it to them!

[@sambird141]

@@EllieMaes-Grandad my children are going to sleep hungry because of the bankman. I'm applying for McDonald's

[@Muchoyo]

Squirrel girl? Best description/explanation of her "interesting" looks yet. I thought it was all about some rare syndrome 🤔

[@Muchoyo]

Never gamble with money you cannot afford to lose.

[@merryhunt9153]

Hold hard there. "FTX, a crypto exchange, was valued at $32 billion dollars." How can an exchange, which merely does office work and helps other people buy and sell their own assets, have a value like that? What assets does an exchange have? Desks, computers, rented space, copy paper, break rooms with or without free donuts, and arguably a reputation. How can that be worth $32,000,000,000?

[@AV57]

Just a slight comment on effective altruism. Effective altruism is basically a counter argument to the argument that if you spend your life constantly performing charity for others that you will actually wind up doing very little, because you will let your own mind and body deteriorate and thereby lack the means to help others. Well, effective altruism counters that, supposedly, by saying that you should do whatever it is you’re best at, but just make sure you act charitably with your gains. So if you’re a banker, donate lots of money. If you’re a baker, donate lots of bread. If you’re a soldier, defend the weak and innocent. If you’re a veterinarian, treat lots of injured wild animals, etc…. Effective altruism is not simply _Make as much money as possible._

[@Louis-wp3fq]

​@Sam Zurick You're the future of the snuggling marketplace.

[@HeadsFullOfEyeballs]

The problem with "effective altruism" (pretending for a moment that it's a serious philosophy and not self-aggrandizing Silicon Valley dorkery -- the name alone is amazingly arrogant) is that they treat hypothetical far-future outcomes as equivalent to near-term outcomes in their moral calculus. It's joined at the hip with "long-termism". Utilitarian philosophies normally discount the value of outcomes the further in the future they are, because they're less certain. "EA" doesn't, and treats its hypothetical distant post-human future as morally equivalent to the present. Which leads to all sorts of perverse outcomes -- hypothetically making a trillion hypothetical future people very slightly happier outweighs certain, material improvements to the lives of a billion people alive today. So they squander a lot of their gains on dubious projects that are supposed to pay off in the far future.

[@Louis-wp3fq]

​@@JohnSmith-mc2zz Very true.

[@Thessalin]

@Louis I'm selling cuddling coins to monetize the cuddling market. Get in the ground floor of this market! Each coin is ... uh.. worth $169,420.

[@straightfacts5352]

@@JohnSmith-mc2zz *Effective altruism* is code for _effectively rationalizing away one's total lack of desire to suffer the cost of doing real charitable works_ 'Volunteer my time down at the local foodbank? Be around poor people? But dude, I've got this orgy to attend! Then a serious coke session afterwards! Dude, priorities!"

[@charlieparkeris]

Much of the US media are still carrying water for this guy even now. The mainstream media should be forced to append "Here's a word from our sponsors" to all their content from now on.

[@gamesthatiplay9083]

seems strange they'd carry water for him, when they didn't for Enron. They were doing the same thing. Inventing numbers and funding politicians, including the current president.

[@charlieparkeris]

@@gamesthatiplay9083 Government, big business, and the media weren't as cozy back then. Whereas they more or less operate in unison now. Mussolini would very much approve.

[@benjones1717]

Why did people invest in him? Because he got good grades at the right uni and was a rich kid. Privilege. While he is immoral, it's also worth remembering, he also wasn't smart enough to make money other than roleplaying as a quant. I'm sure he was good at maths, theoretical maths anyway, passing tests anyway, but he clearly couldn't make money in the market. Either he lacked the knowledge or emotional stability. Nerds aren't as amazing as they seem on tv apparently.

[@BlueAxeRacer]

The truth is, no one human being can solve all the world's problems, and those who believe otherwise are fools. I don't have all the answers, but I do know this: cooperation and transparency go a long way.

[@redrackham6812]

I have an idea: let's invest billions of dollars in a "currency" that is not legal tender anywhere in the world, that no business will accept in payment for any good or service, that you cannot use to your rent or mortgage, or your utility bill, your taxes, etc., and that is not backed by any commodity or other asset of established value or by the promise of any government or other known and well-established institution, and which is not even a currency, and which is issued by a bunch of narcissistic megalomaniacs. What could go wrong?

[@NarcissistAU]

Remember, there was a time when if you screwed up 1/100th as bad you'd end up falling out a high window or having an accident while cleaning a firearm. Shame is a dead concept now I guess. EDIT - I should probably clarify I was implying self-inflicted atonement (the gentlest euphemism I could come up with) as opposed to retribution at the hands of a third party. Having to rely on outlaws for anything resembling justice is a sad indictment on the system itself. So ironically, it appears that if it wasn't for outlaws the concept of justice would be just as dead as shame.

[@oohhboy-funhouse]

It might happen if he somehow ended up in Russia. Very mysterious, with these oligarchs shooting themselves in the back of the head.

[@tomservo5007]

Madoff's family members ended up dead, soon we will find out if Sam scammed a few bad guys or worked for them

[@alittlebitgone]

Look at who they are, who their parents are, where they come from, Sam is NEVER going to jail, ever.

[@marcelagae]

He'll walk. He'll probably end up rich. That's how it works when your parents have all the right connections.

[@Ciborium]

This is why I come to Georg, as well as Patrick Boyle. They have a different take than 99% of crypto bro scammer and financial KZbin grifters.

[@behrwillsonn3181]

The first time I read the definition of utilitarianism I thought it was dangerous. It's like who defines what is "good"? How about this, I'll define what's good, and we're going to spread that good to everybody, or else. Ya see? It can get dark fast.

[@punkinhicktown]

Keep doing your amazing work. I'm a bit speechless in rage at what I learned.

[@m.woodsrobinson9244]

That's a great way to describe it. 👍

[@GovernorCedric]

This mini doc Is the best I’ve seen to date featuring the backstory of SBF and the history of this companies FTX and Almeda. Keep up the great work I’ve subscribed and will be watching for future post

[@mikeballard8404]

Billionaires throwing there money causing an unnatural increase in the price of a commodity!!

[@CrookedSkew]

As good as if not better in certain areas as Cold Fusion and Patrick Boyle'a videos on FTX. Well done Mr. Georg and thank you.

[@m.c4210]

Would be amazing to be a fly on the wall during FTX last days.

[@Pheonixco]

So you like watching coke-fueled orgies? cause that's what you'd be watching.

[@Louis-wp3fq]

I imagine that house attracted a lot of flies.

[@alkostach]

Wow. I don't know if it was on purpose, but this was the most optimistic video I've seen in a while. For every Bankman-Greed there is one George, and me, and perhaps you reading this. It's not that bad.

[@nineteenfortyeight6762]

To have another one of these crooks be so colorfully laughable truly does give solace

[@JasonWendleton]

Thank you for explaining this to me. I will not let the bastards grind me down.

[@umangjain293]

I thought it'd be just another video on FTX talking about the same stuff, but I learnt a lot of new info from this, thanks!

[@NefariousKoel]

That guy's meth-driven energy is so often captured on camera. He'll have quite a crash if he goes to prison.

[@gamesthatiplay9083]

I've seen people so nervous to do TV interviews that they vomit on camera. They never shake. I'd say the shaking is because Sam knows he's a fraud, and feared the TV audience knowing it too.

[@NefariousKoel]

@@gamesthatiplay9083 - He was also doing it in some of his video conferences. Perhaps he's extremely nervous. Perhaps his roommate/girlfriend bragging about doing speed on social media was a prime insight. I'm familiar with the behavior.

[@jthom0027]

I love seeing more and more examples of how people in financial fields actually do nothing of consequence and make 100X the money that actual workers do. It is unbelievable to me how completely ass backwards our socio-economical system is. You can work 40 hours at a store or as a truck driver, or in a warehouse somewhere and make in a year what someone who simply trades in foreign exchanges does in a minute. Its absurd and embarassing.

[@rsmith4339]

It would be unjust to bury his entire family under the prison next to him . But we've witnessed generations of injustice to the non rich , while not a single wealthy person has faced justice . At least during the guilded age it was possible for the wealthy to lose it all.

[@larryo6874]

Well, Elizabeth Holmes is facing eleven years in prison. Bernie Madoff died in prison. Wealthy people do avoid prison more often than poor people but some have done hard time.

[@zaberfang]

@@larryo6874 not enough of them get punished.

[@firesoy]

@@larryo6874 depends who you steal from

[@runswithraptors]

@@larryo6874 hard time yeah right. They go to posh prisons or "minimal security facilities" made for wealthy people like them and rarely serve their entire sentence anyway

[@larryo6874]

@@runswithraptors Yes, I heard Holmes will go to a minimum security prison so most likely more pleasant than a “regular” prison. Still, however, you aren’t free to go anywhere so still an unpleasant experience. My understanding is that Holmes will have to serve 85% of her sentence or about 9 years.

[@larryo6874]

Best explanation yet. Thanks so much. One explanation I’ve heard as to why Sequoia Capital and others invested in FTX was not so much that they believed in FTX but rather fear of missing out on a huge profit even though they knew it was fraud.

[@OfflineSetup]

There is class action being taken against the "celebs" that advertised FTX. I don't think it will succeed and truth be told I don't want it to, it was clearly an advert. Far more dangerous is the puff pieces from Sequoia and media outlets that in effect were PR (ads) that pretend to be independent, but the writers receive reward. Its no difference to the "influncers" who were fined for endorsing without declaring it was "paid for"

[@OfflineSetup]

@@JohnSmith-mc2zz Yup! If the advert was fraudulent then it is the makers of the advert responsible not those reading lines. People have to be responsible and if they were receiving financial advice for an actor in an advert then, I feel sorry for them.

[@formxshape]

Surely the AD agency should be the accused ?

[@AR-rg2en]

@@OfflineSetup Those reading the lines need to be held accountable to some extent.

[@oohhboy-funhouse]

I wouldn't't be so sure. Clebs/influencers have been successfully prosecuted for said "Ads" and endorsements. Securities are serious business that exists under different laws than your run-of-the-mill ad for say cereal. I much rather they can be sued in order to tap down on this nonsense. All crypto is scams. Even those that don't start as a scam will become a scam.

[@foch3]

It's crazy that they are allowed to delete those "Ads" whenever they feel like it.

[@gordons-alive4940]

Great video, man. Appreciate the effort. One of the better ones I've seen about the whole strange case of FTX.

[@ronaldorivers236]

He's always looking at the floor or looking away, specially when asked something.

[@lirpa5]

I had never heard of these grifting nerds before they filed for bankruptcy early November, now I can't seem to get away from hearing about them. Every day a new video appears.

[@Sarkarin]

You're fucking amazing. Not the person I was expecting to cover the FTX scandal, but I'm damn happy it is. Great journalism. One of the UK's best.

[@seileurt]

That outtro was your best yet. Amazing piece!

[@MrChazz965]

He also said that he was sleeping well. Only a psychopath sleeps well after committing crimes and financially destroying people.

[@AGHathaway]

These people need to be thrown in prison for years or it will have ramifications for decades,

[@gombocdimensional9050]

don't hold your breath, rich people have the 'luck' of getting away with these things.

[@chicken_beach]

I almost choked at the Urkel sample

[@plants4thewin]

Revenge of the nerds has been taken to a whole new level. The nerds used the jocks, and the politicians to commit a hugs scam. 🤣😂

[@cloudbuster06]

Just wanted to say that this is one of my top five favorite KZbin channels. Thanks & Great work George!

[@malcolmliang]

Billions lost but at least we get good quality internet drama

[@PaquiPaqui73]

The theme must have been treated by all of the KZbinrs, but Rockall-Schmidt always find a new angle to comment. Congratulations, sir.

[@RinoaL]

12:48 Nice use of that early-90s HD footage!

[@czarkusa2018]

He's done it, he became what they told us to be.

[@danielnewton2390]

Academics with money and power will lead to the slow death of us all.

[@PsycoticMango]

Criminally underrated, George. Once again you deliver the soggy information I need with the dry wit of an English corpse. Well done

[@BadFoodBlog]

A scammer is a scammer, this won’t be the last unregulated exchange to crash, the scams make money fast and people are addicted to get rich quick promises. “Making as much money possible” is always going to screw over the most people possible.

[@ComradeSeanski]

god has a sick sense of humor from "ouchi" to "bankman" it never gets old

[@ogedeh]

All my apes... Gone.

[@TheMouseAvenger]

Ouchi? As in... Hisashi Ouchi?

[@ComradeSeanski]

@@TheMouseAvenger yeah, poor bastard rip

[@tomkandy]

He's not likely to be Fried for a long time once the feds catch him either

[@Louis-wp3fq]

​@@tomkandy *golf clap*

[@sillonbono3196]

Great video. One of the best about the subject.

[@KC-eb8wp]

"The Emperor has no clothes"...applies to all scammers...

[@gemmagreene362]

Wasn’t expecting to be reminded of Only Fools and Horses, but “cosmic!” brought it all back!

[@arcadealchemist]

it's like by design some people have a name that fits the crime.

[@nineteenfortyeight6762]

17:00 correction: where he shared a stage with war criminals Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.

[@TehPwnerer]

Effective altruism is far better described as effective exploitation and the illusion of altruism

[@dfailsthemost]

I think yours are the only videos I share regularly. Thank you

[@GlacialScion]

25:25 This was unexpectedly hilarious.

[@seangorry]

I want that quote on a poster

[@sneakythumbs9900]

Honestly, number of billiard tables was the easiest for me to understand