SBF arrested: A sigh of relief?

What's in for SBF now?

In today's edition of TCW newsletter let's discuss SBF!

SBF is at the centre of a major business scandal involving his cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The exchange burnt to ashes in November, leaving many customers without their funds. SBF was finally arrested in December 12 by authorities in the Bahamas, where he was residing, at the request of the U.S. government. He was scheduled to attend a hearing on the collapse of FTX on December 13, but was unable to do so due to his arrest.

John J. Ray III, CEO of the FTX Group, attended the hearing in his place. Ray has been critical of SBF and the previous executive team in court filings, stating that he has never seen such a failure of corporate controls and such a lack of trustworthy financial information as in this case.

What types of charges is SBF facing?

Our dear crypto bro SBF has been a direct competition to Bernard Lawrence Madoff, the notorious fraudster who ran the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion.

Well, SBF is facing multiple criminal charges, including wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering, according to the New York Times. In the US, wire fraud can result in 20 years’ imprisonment, securities fraud 25 years and money laundering 20 years.

Guess what? Jailed For Crypto finally!

From the penthouse to Fox Hill prison.

Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said, ‘All this dirty money was used in service of Bankman-Fried's desire to buy bipartisan influence and impact the direction of public policy in Washington’. Moreover, Mr Bankman-Fried has also been accused of using "tens of millions" in ill-gotten gains for illegal campaign contributions to Democrats and Republicans alike, cites Williams.

Taking everything in consideration, SBF may face 115 years behind bars. Currently his bail request has been denied and he will spend some time in the Bahamas’ only prison: the correctional facility known as Fox Hill.

Fox Hill prison is probably top 10 worst prisons in the world. Fox Hill inmates reported removing human waste by buckets and developing bed sores from lying on the bare ground. Cells were also infested with rats, maggots and insects.

The Coin Weekly will cover Binance FUD on 16th December. Stay tuned for the update