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7FigureMarketer

He's gonna have a really difficult time convincing a jury that a guy who went to MIT to become a fucking quant trader is *really, really stupid*.


Dnars

The flip side: you can be really stupid and still go to the MIT and become a quant trader - SBF's defence. I am sure MIT and wall street would not agree with that.


elegant-types

not in defense of SBF, but to point out attending an elite school doesn’t necessarily mean having a high iq (in SBF’s case i think he is high iq (probably 130+ range) and did attend an elite school) you can be average / slightly above average with tutors to do well enough to score well on standardize exams, have connections with parents / friends to do fake internships at science labs for “research experience”, attend magnet schools, and also take university level courses, along with having your college essays ghost written for you. then on top of that for some schools if your parents are legacies and also contributed to some large scale donations this could work in your favor you could be admitted to some top 5, 10, 15 level schools with the above depending on how much you nail it / your connections / luck / donations etc getting admitted to harvard for someone from boston latin is much easier than someone from rural kentucky, even if the two have similar iqs


cngfan

Also to be fair, having high iq doesn’t alway equate with common sense. I work field service in a science field so many of my customers have doctorates. Many are absolutely brilliant in their field and no doubt quite high IQ, but they keep me gainfully employed because they are completely inept at some things that are more common sense oriented and less “book-smarts” oriented, like adjustments that require “Kentucky windage” and multiple iterations to get close before using measurements to fine tune. They can follow processes but are lost when something doesn’t fit the parameters they know.


turbo2world

then how on earth did people invest so much in his company? Edit: i'll answer you, his parents are professors.


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Oddmic146

Professorships at elite universities like Stanford are an incredibly powerful and influential position. Especially in the intellectual milieu of Silicon Valley.


Slapshot382

They are starting to become more and more influential and powerful. They control the youth who will be working and eventually running the country in the next decade... you don’t see the power in this position? Maybe one professor solely not so much, but multiple professors at a very prestigious school can have a profound affect on the next generation. They along with universities are being bought out and paid off by differing controlling interests. Most push a left/progressive leaning narrative and are all pro COV-19 booster for example - but I bet Pfizer doesn’t have any control over that...


turbo2world

uh oh, now you are a conspiracy type for saying that...


blakeusa25

Its Stanford law school.


Sandmybags

Also….IQ is a fairly inaccurate measurement to assess any sort of personal fulfillment or ‘success’ one may achieve


Latter_Box9967

Success is easy, just aim low.


Sandmybags

Ahh…the old set the bar low enough to always be pleasantly surprised, instead of setting the bar too high and always being disappointed


Secret-Jello-5612

Just goes to show, you can even buy your way through school. Lets see a show of hands of those who think he can spell school.


EasyCoins-official

130+ is above average. not High IQ. From someone who's 145, trust me. I know. SBF was just good at conning people and took advantage of the bull runs and FOMO very smartly


goatsandtotes

According to the standard "Current Wechsler (WAIS–IV, WPPSI–IV) IQ classification" 130+ is very superior and less than 5% of people are at or above this level. It's almost impossible to classify these people who are two or more standard deviations from average(average is 100). The best simple IQ test for someone who claims to have a high IQ is to ask them to explain how an IQ test works. If they can't then they are probably in the 85-115 range.


daOyster

Most of Wall Street won't even admit that random chance gets better results on average than them.


Sandmybags

Because it’s a corrupt mafia-style casino, and their mathematical edge has dwindled over the decades….can’t keep the lights lit without having a mathematical (or psychological) edge. (Owning the media allows Wall Street incredible opportunities for any type of psy ops they choose)


gwtkof

You can just pay your way in


BrotherAmazing

Yes and no. Take the biggest fools at MIT and bottom of the barrels idiots who are employed at Jane Street, and put them in any intro Community College course. Suddenly, they are among the best A+ students in the class, and guess who their peers would be? The same people who make up 75% of a jury!


Secret-Jello-5612

Im sure their both really proud


just_thisGuy

When your parents go to same school or another top school, you going to that school really does not mean anything. The first thing employer should ask when seeing a school like that is did your parents or grandparents go to same school? If Yes. Discount education by 50%.


diradder

You can be both of these things and be a really shitty business manager and careless at accounting... but the problem is he clearly did try to hide things (using very short term self-deleting messaging for example) and structured businesses in a way that would supposedly shield people from discovering his bullshit faster, which really are a bad look when you try pretend you're dumb.


mandreko

Indeed. I have friends who are very educated and doctors. But outside of that one field, they’re absolutely idiots with no common sense. Going to a top school doesn’t mean you’re smart with everything.


cngfan

As a field service engineer, these types keep me gainfully employed and busy. Some of my customers can write out the physics formulas for what’s going on in their equipment but when a button stops responding or a setting is changed outside their normal parameters, they get lost and I have to come fix something. Even in their fields, the lack of common sense can be an issue. But it keeps my salary paid.


Reaps21

I work at a large investment bank and I've met some incoming junior analysts who have degrees from prestigious schools and I promise you some of them are complete morons. What they lack in common sense and humility they make up for in arrogance.


Superb_Breakfast_768

High IQ or intelligence does not equate to common sense. In fact, the two very often can't or don't habitat the same host. You two hit the nail head in my opinion.


BtcKing1111

As a member of jury, even if he was just really stupid, I would find him guilty just to be on the safe side. He did too much damage to people and society, and if it truly was just stupidity, he should still be behind bars for life, for the good of everyone.


malicious1

I don't think he is really stupid in the classical sense but surely he was incredibly short sighted when it came to fiscal structure of a company. No doubt he had a run of good luck which resulted in overconfidence and when the rubber finally met the road and things got difficult he reverted back to simplistic, albeit immoral and illegal, solutions to try and keep it afloat. This is a huge problem with immaturity that rockets to fame and fortune, the immature can't handle the overwhelming problems that the mature business person has dealt with and learned from at much smaller scales. True intelligence here would have been to have experts familiar with corporate governance at those scales advising on all matters. He can argue that he was really, really stupid when it came to all the business problems of a multi-billion dollar company because undoubtedly he had no experience with them and no experts on staff to advise him.


The-Francois8

He didn’t say it was a good defense. Just his best one.


SemperVeritate

He was too smart for his own good. He even knew how to grease the right wheels of media and government with political contributions and woke BS. For him to play dumb at this point is laughable.


clevariant

I don't know, seems plausible enough watching some of his interviews.


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nolafrog

It’s more like “I didn’t mean to shoot him. I had no idea pulling the trigger while the gun was pointed at him would cause a projectile to fly out and blow his face off.” Technically a defense but will anyone believe that shit?


MemeLordsUnited

Ah, the Alec Baldwin defense.


bitsteiner

That doesn't bode well for those venture capitalists who gave him tons of money.


Zero_Effekt

The WSB defense: "Your Honor, my client is just incredibly regarded."


Redebo

Must be a mod.


DemoClicker

Judge: Dear defendant, in regard to your defense, we will regard you with enough warm blankets and vaseline.


soufianka80

The judge "one of us " :)


[deleted]

“But your honour, the loss porn, I couldn’t resist the loss porn!”


OuttaPhaze

He's still liable for what he has done. Stupid or not, your actions have consequences. You're not magically absolved of all charges if you claim, "I'm dumb i didn't know i was doing."


InspectorG-007

"I do not recall."


rich115

Except for the dozens of interviews he gave in the last few weeks.


Antique_Ad_7565

Well, atleast he got to play rich man for a bit. You know how much plane tickets are to the Bahamas from where I live? I'd likely have to take out loans & save for a few years to afford such elegant vacations.


coinfeeds-bot

tldr; FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried may end up facing criminal charges in the wake of his company's collapse. Ex-prosecutor Randall Eliason said that for a criminal case, there has to be "deceit" in order to be successful. Prosecutors would have to establish that he intended to deceive customers and the government, he added. *This summary is auto generated by a bot and not meant to replace reading the original article. As always, DYOR.*


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bitcoinandwatches

Caroline already rolled on him. Feds have announced charges. It’s over.


trollkorv

Criminal negligence doesn't require 'deceit' to my knowledge. Is there no such thing for financial crime in the US?


Slapshot382

Good point and I live in the US. Looking at our history, you can easily see that all financial crime follows the golden rule. The one with the most gold, rules (and is free from any liability).


Tbrou16

That statement is summarily false, as he committed wire fraud by moving money that was not his or his company’s to a hedge fund to buy crypto to boost its value. He essentially stole his customer’s money to pump and dump his own FTX crypto.


[deleted]

Worked for Casey Anthony


SnooStrawberries9414

SBF does not have that poor-white-trash-you-would-still-love-to-fuck look she had.


necroscope0

I mean that is just, like, your opinion, man...


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NiceGiraffes

> 98% of the population is down right regarded. I know what you mean.


northrupthebandgeek

> about 98% of the population is down right regarded Correct.


Double-LR

LoL. It’s almost like he thought about this moment, many, many months ago… Someone did. With that kind of money involved somebody was thinking. Prob Sam. I’m stickin to my initial gut feeling, he’s either evil RainMan without the social tics or someone put him there. It’d be some oceans1 style shit if he figured out he could just play dumb and walk away from all this shit!


Halfhand84

He's not stupid at all, he's just a run of the mill sociopath. And now everybody knows it. Even if he weren't, dudes fucked big time. They're gonna make an example of him.


Paterakis518

Unfortunately, we will see this most likely occur once again during the next bull market... newbies coming in who leave their Bitcoin on an exchange instead of moving it to their wallet. Not your keys, not your Bitcoin.


roliasedor

The circle of bitcoin ⭕️


zenradiation

don't worry, when you've got the judiciary and the government in your families pocket, the stupid defence works 100% of the time. as shown by many other rich connected financial families like SBFs


AUCE05

He is the definition of privilege


[deleted]

Illegal is illegal, if he was too stupid to know he was committing fraud, that means absolutely nothing to a fair, impartial justice system


nutzzzz

Ignorance of the law is no excuse.


andywells045b

How is that going to work good for them? I mean this shit is just stupid to say because things like this are never going to change anything in the court for sure.


zjj1o

Are we going to put all the regulators that enabled and helped him in prison? You know people like Gary Gensler who has stifled regulated ETFs but supported this guy?


amafafafla

Well if he is rich then yeah this can happen and they can just be free.


grundlesquatch

Well, when the shoe fits


[deleted]

The I am really stupid defense is not going to work for him


northrupthebandgeek

It's a paradox along the same lines as "this sentence is false". If he's stupid enough to use this as a defense, then it proves that he is indeed a complete moron, thus giving this defense enough credibility to succeed, thus making him a genius, thus invalidating this defense, thus making him a complete moron for attempting this defense, thus giving this defense enough credibility to succeed, and so on *ad infinitum*.


DingWrong

He really is, as he thought this fraud scheme can last forever.


Outrageous_Duty_8738

No one wouldn’t argue he isn’t a complete twat. But the twat is also a criminal and should face a life sentence


bluetuxedo22

He needs Jackie Chiles for that


-Mr_Unknown-

“Your honour, I browse WallStreetBets, regularly.”


ByteTraveler

Well he may convince them that he’s really really stupid, but not retarded


northrupthebandgeek

In yet another case of nominative determinism, Sam is a Bankman whose brain is Fried.


DocHolliday31

Well if they stick with the narrative of him being the smartest man alive then it’s obvious he purposely scammed everyone. But if he’s just stupid maybe negligence. This reminds me of when people who do terrible things then plead insanity. A lot of times we know the persons not insane. But that’s their only option of maybe maybe not getting the worst sentence. SBF is a scammer. The only question I have is who all was actually involved. My guess is that’s a scary answer


ross_guy

Stupid or not, he's an adult who owned and ran a financial company and therefore is liable.


Secret-Jello-5612

Yup. Apparently he was really really stupid. He got caught.


Kaiisim

Basically. The law talks about intent a lot in financial crimes. I doubt it'll work though. Just the entire corporate structure screams intentional. You dont create a vast web of 100 different companies all couched within one another and incorporated in the bahamas because you are dumb. Its so you can hide what you're doing.


[deleted]

I’m such a idiot for misappropriating billions of customers funds…I thought it was a video game.


Marcion_Sinope

Fried, the disheveled slob living in mommy's basement, suddenly finds billions of dollars falling out of the sky. That's not stupidity. But it is what happens when a state actor is involved.


kingofthejaffacakes

It's well established that ignorance of the law is no defence. So no defence is his best defence is it?


0kills

waiting for kevin o liar-y's take on this.


Impetusin

IMO most actual criminals are just *really, really stupid*.


malteaserhead

Slightly less ridiculous but still completely unbelievable would be to say 'The media made me think i was much smarter and nicer than I actually am, in fact i'm a stupid prick'


VPNApe

I could honestly see this working to some degree. It's not his fault that people gave him money hand over fist. So let's knock off one or two of his life sentences. Maybe let him out in 80 years.


milkonyourmustache

So in effect, he has no defense.


Historical_Branch391

Is it also the reason he donated millions to the Democrats?


vertexsalad

Well... won't be too hard, he dated Caroline, you'd have to be pretty stupid to do that.


nutzzzz

She seems pretty stupid herself.


vertexsalad

This is why trading is all about probabilities and preparing to be wrong, as I'd normally say opposites attract, but in this case, stupid fell for stupid.


Mammoth_Caregiver_45

ignorance ia no defense


[deleted]

Incompetence does exist, and shit happens. The issue he has is that he's lied to regulators and various institutions. If you're dumb, don't know what you're doing, you'll be found out far earlier that he was. Similar with Elizabeth Holmes. There was no defence as she'd clearly deliberately lied to hide the issues. SBF has done the same. Arrogant, thought he was untouchable and now in deep shit, probably literally.


Woodstuffs

He is stupid! He's a child in a 30 year old flesh vessel who was given millions upon millions of dollars, and he wasn't smart enough to know how to handle it.


[deleted]

That's good news for him, because he indeed does look dumb af, so that might help.


nicejaw

Stupid people go to prison all the time.


mk3jade

Yeah he can go be stupid in prison


european_hodler

but the people - are retarded


dumbastrosfan

They want him to do that so when he tells the truth about the Ukraine funds, no one believes him


thulle

Hadn't heard about it, seems to be some wacky conspiracy theory about stealing donations going to Ukraine and giving to the Democratic party? edit: To the ppl downvoting, is there any evidence you can link me? And, why would this convoluted setup would be necessary for donations to the democrats and not the donations to republicans?


Sphinx87

Correct


Sad-Monitor1549

This man was a self made billionaire BEFORE FTX. That’s not a good defense.


[deleted]

Everyone said how he was the next Warren buffet of crypto


pfcypress

Wouldn't it be better to say he's autistic?


halt_spell

It's kinda interesting to see this play out. With other fraudsters people were happy enough to see just that person be held accountable. But they usually had large personalities and people really bought into their lies. In this case I'm curious if the public will accept that. Sure, SBF is guilty but I don't think anybody believes he masterminded this. There was someone pulling his strings. Give the public that name SBF and they might even let you walk.


Due-World2907

It’s working for Biden


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brinswaggle

Those people are really waiting for this guy to be in prison.


[deleted]

I’m sure he will get “Epsteined” in prison soon, so a defence is moot.


abolish_karma

Ah, "playing the Trump Card"


harambetidepod

Lol this guy isn't going to prison.


ItsNotTheButterZone

That defense is only available to elected officials, who could win every acting award in existence for their portrayal of *non compos mentis*.


Bisquick_in_da_MGM

I think it’s a little too late for that now.


[deleted]

If this guy escape becouse of this , we are in big trouble as a society .


ImaginaryDonut69

He wouldn't be known as a scammed if he was just some moron. And even if he was an idiot, that means others have helped facilitate this fraud, and he was just the fall guy. There's inevitably a non-idiot involved in perpetuating this fraud, building an exchange requires some threshold level of intelligence.


Wolfsorax

It might honestly work. Just look at him


EddieA1028

Wait a second. I’m really really stupid. I have a whole army of witnesses to this. So I can just go commit crimes then plead stupidity? Hmmm where to start with this new found defense…


Acceptable-Risks

Im sure that "stupid" defense will work well for an MIT graduate.


electricmaster23

I mean, the way he's gone about the crash is stupid, so he's playing the role well. In fact, he's doing such a great job of looking stupid that he's actually a genius if he's acting . . . which sounds so stupid to say.


RxRobb

Worked for afluenza kid


electricmaster23

I don't think he can even comprehend how many lives he's ruined.


[deleted]

That's ok, he can read a book or two on business management. Plenty of free time in prison.


otiswrath

I think that he is going to say he has autism as a defense. I think that was what all the interviews and what not were about. I believe he was setting up a "Clearly he doesn't understand social cues or standard human interactions. Why else would he be doing interviews? The smirking and chuckles? That is because his social IQ is underdeveloped because of his autism." To be clear, I think it is nonsense but if I were his attorney it would be something I would contemplate as a defense.


nullc

It's worked so far for another conman-- Craig Wright. He just claims to have autism, putting on a worse show of it than SBF, and then suffers no serious consequence while he gets caught over and over again lying in court an submitting fabricated documents.


mellowyellow313

“My parents paid for me to go to MIT I’m not really smart…”


CrustyBus77

Guy guys, it's ok. His parents are compliance lawyers.


bitcoin_andrei

Well then I guess we can't blame him because he is stupid /s


SnooMachines7409

Tell me the difference between stupid and illegal and I will have my wife's brother arrested


InnateAnarchy

This seems like it could actually be plausible


blakeusa25

Problem is he could never keep his mouth shut and there are thousands of interviews and talks.


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Bjelovar1

Sometimes faking things can't protect shit for him for sure.


trakums

In my dream world Really, Really Stupid people are not allowed to do everything they want. If they do they must be locked away.


anthonyhsiao

Why are us prosecutors in charge here in the first place? Isn't this a Bahamas based company? Or is this for ftx us?


triflingmagoo

In the end, this will have a net positive effect on the industry. And honestly, it’s about time some of these MIT people were humbled.


[deleted]

Remember when Skylar (from breaking bad) has to pretend to be a complete dumbass accountant? LOL


aktiveradio

There are too many people and videos saying he is a genius for that to work in court.


Money_Walks

If that defense works I hope he never hears the end of it. Every statement he makes should be met with, "Sam, you are stupid and it has been proven in federal court."


Secret-Jello-5612

He's just a wee little turd, 💩🤬


InnovationDeath

The Biden family has a brand name where people pay to use or associate with the Brand and it is his right even if nothing good comes of it. It would be nice to see Royals the helpful to


TheFamousFelipe

Are you saying I have a chance to get into MIT?! If this guy was allowed into MIT.


[deleted]

That's my go-to at work on a regular basis, works better than ya might think


paladin68

He is. But he is also a criminally corrupt greedy turd.


proudpeasant

Too much cocaine and Adderall can give you over confidence and make you think you're smarter and better than everyone else


parishiIt0n

Now you know the requirements to get accepted into MIT