If you are familiar with the old comedy trio, the Three Stooges, I bet you can spot a resemblance between Larry Fine and Michael Bankman Fried.
One big difference — Larry Fine was funny; Bankman Fried is not.
What has many people scratching their heads is how this kid could wind up at the top of a multi-billion dollar enterprise and convince so many supposedly shrewd Wall Street financiers to throw money at him?
Which brings me to the following tweet. This is your chance to drill down and help try to unravel how this whole scam got started. I asked the question earlier today, who bank rolled this start up. A wise and good friend sent me this.
I hope that the appropriate governing authorities are conducting a full-scale investigation. In the meantime, what do you know about any of these companies/organizations and the people who helped get FTX up and running? I am flattered to have such an urbane, smart group of people from around the world who take the time to read and comment on my articles. I am betting that some of you have some insights on some of these companies and can help shed light on whether there were some nefarious intents at the beginning or if people who should have known better failed to do their due diligence.
What do you think?
Matthew Crawford has an extremely detailed take on it today here: https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/a-grand-unified-theory-of-the-ftx
The story itself is a helluva ride, like a Grand Unified Theory of Western Depredation.. it’s also quite plausible.
Huskynut. Thank you for the link, very good read.
No due diligence carried out.
Ask yourself a question: who wants a centralized digital currency system? The answer is: the WEF. It all leads there.
Mark Moss, also, has a good connect the dots video
https://rumble.com/v1usswn-evidence-ftx-was-a-deep-state-plan-to-capture-crypto.html
It is not the first time that syndicates and other groups use front figures for financial crimes.
The initial backers are the key. SBF is just a spendable front figure. No one can get so much attention with so much money so fast, unless there have been people behind. SBF is not the only one out there with that kind of business idea.
From what I’ve seen, his constant nervous body checking when interviewed.
Watch his past interviews, and observe he is not a person that attract people in any kind or form, nor his girlfriend. His looks and behave pretty chartinoonish.
Based on that and other accounts, the word out there confirms that he is not a charismatic person. That is, SBF never had attention or anything going around him in his life, ever. Not even when he was at the top, he could not get a more appealing girlfriend.
Hence, if you are looking for a useful idiot to establish a financial scam, he seems a good candidate as a front figure.
Many possibilities here.
From my time in the financial industry – once you have one backer and it is a “name” – the rest of them come by default.
Also, for most of the companies you listed – the money they invested in peanuts.
From a national security point of view – more worrisome is the fact that companies like FTX have direct access to rich/powerful people in US government.
I have to agree, Oddo. Weird and shocking as this story appears to be, it’s really small potatoes, inside and out. Far as I can tell, some spoiled, autistic, geek, jerk (MBF) got a job in trading due to his family connections and his own overrated educational achievements. Then he made a single good arbitrage trade that brought him some instant lower end wealth and fame. From there, people and funds became attracted to his”business model” and the rest is history.
The modern tech world has created a lot of wealth among people with a psychological disposition that, in most of human history, would have caused them to have been left on a hillside for the ravens, as infants. These people don’t know anything about real life, real work, real relationships, real value or reality in general. Their material success and their limited high tech skill set, which appears as sorcery to most and is promoted as such by idiots in the media, attracts investors. The alchemical quest is always alive.
Most of the reported lost value appears to me to just be pumped assets (= bs that never really existed).
With total respect to Larry and others, I don’t think there’s much to this story beyond inexperienced, autistic geeks with poor social skills and low ethics predictably and quickly losing other greedy people’s money. The bigger story will possibly be Washington DC scumbags who benefitted from donations helping said out-of-control geeks get out of trouble – and, maybe, that US tax payer $s went to the Washington scumbags via Zelensky via the autistic geeks.
Eric Newhill. imo the money might have been pulled out of thin air. The problem is this money becomes the foundation of more assets across the market and artificially hikes the price. If the money disappears back into thin air then so does the dollar/brick holding up the artificially raised prices. In a worst case scenario this will cascade as an apparently solid wall suddenly finds it’s self missing a lot of bricks.
But we will get over it and it will start all over again just this time the US will be trying to recover when it is no longer the the economic power that it was, China being in the ascendancy. Who knows? I will continue to read Larry’s column everyday searching for clues
RZ, Yes. But Europeans recovered from tulip bulb mania in time as well. The problem is that FTX is just a brick in the wall…..or a brick no longer in the wall, as you say, but it is only one missing brick of many. By itself, long term, cryptocurrency collapse would mean little. Itt is crypto collapse combined with everything else that is collapsing that should cause concern.
To be clear, while I know conspiracies do happen, I tend to eschew the notion that these events are controlled by James Bond level villains and their master plans. IMO, it’s more organic and ships of fools following other ships of fools, believing the lead ship actually knows where it’s going, when, in fact, it doesn’t. Predators figure out that is the nature of society, especially in times of perceived transformation, like the so called “digital revolution”, and they manipulate the human weaknesses to enrich and glorify themselves. If there’s a shady “company” like FTX/Alameda doing that, then more predators sniff the shadiness and are drawn into the game. Shadiness is where these people live and thrive. The more predators, the less likely a master conspiracy plan b/c the predators, by nature, compete w/ each other. They can’t cooperate very long.
No surprise that rotten politicians got drawn into this crooked card game. No surprise that criminal enterprises like the Ukrainian government had a seat at the table. No surprise if some elements of intelligence agencies inserted themselves. Rust never sleeps and its always seeking out new structures to corrode. No surprise that the game eventually fell apart. No surprise that disgruntled players will draw knives and guns and go after the dealer and confederates for dealing off the bottom of the deck. One big Charlie Foxtrot, more briefly organically organized chaos than intelligent design, in my humble opinion.
Again, I believe that, like Oddo said, once Fried got lucky and made some money, like a broken clock, he attracted an investor. Then, b/c he attracted a big investor, more big investors came along. It’s a herd mentality/fleet of ships of fools. There are plenty of fools and herd critters w/ plenty of money.
“Itt is crypto collapse combined with everything else that is collapsing that should cause concern.”
Yup crypto is correlated to equities. All down together.
More market sensitive even than crypto.
Eric, what I think is important here is that crypto is complex and opaque for 99% of the population (including people in power) and hence very easy to use for money laundering and covert, “murky business” such as influence operations that have long time horizons.
The fact that someone could skyrocket into being a “moral leader” and a darling of people who wield power and get access to them without much vetting – so quickly – is scary.
The fact that this guy got lauded by journalists and got companies like Sequoia or Blackrock to write checks in 2022, without any due diligence, while promising 15% ROI is also scary.
The fact that the whole thing exposes systemic incompetence and corruption – very scary.
The whole affair overall is probably yet another “bridge to sell you” type of an affair that America has been suffering since its inception but the ease, scale and pervasiveness of its spread through the high echelons of power – that’s worrisome – if nothing else, from a national security point of view.
How soon before someone with different motives does something similar to ensnare politicians and government officials in a scheme that could cause them to have be in a position where they can be blackmailed, to have to “abdicate” or to generally destabilize an already fragile political/economic system? The West is at a HUGE disadvantage here because of these issues.
Greta Thunberg, another autistic weirdo kid, was also promoted by the media and other of mainstream culture as a moral authority that adults must follow. Autistic geeks are in fashion. We live in clown world. There are no serious, wise, adults in charge in the West. It’s all just one big pan sexual, do as thou wilt, orgy all day every day. They’re all already compromised, and they’ve all already “abdicated” the system.
We are now at the Caligula and Incitatus phase of societal collapse. History isn’t taught any longer, or spoken of much, but if it were to be observed, it would be clear that this flavor of collapse has happened throughout our European ancestors’ history and it looks just like this.
“Far as I can tell, some spoiled, autistic, geek, jerk…..”
Not very far, definitely not much about autism but plenty of ugly destain. By the way, none of these people suffers from the condition.
Harry Potter fan who believes she is a wood nymph and wears Harry Potter glasses and a wreath of lights around her head, in public as a chief executive officer of a major financial firm. A bunch of mal-formed self described “pan sexual” kids who can’t dress like adults, but want adult amounts of money from other people to play with? That is normal where you come from? Thanks for the virtue signaling and moral posturing, but you’re part of the problem. Thunberg is a self-admitted autistic.
Eric,
I think you have pretty much nailed it.
What happened at FTX is what has happened in dozens of other situations over many financial cycles.
The Fed has injected trillions of new cash into the financial system (in return, receiving some troubled assets), essentially bailing out the financial industry. This led to excess and financial markets which were out of control.
The problem is not how it happened. The problem is a) that someone like these kids can easily get access to powerful people in government and b) that these kids can become useful idiots for someone who wants to undermine the financial system/trust in the system/whatever.
In the worst scenario, someone high in government is ensnared in this and it can be used against them. A bit less worse is the possibility of many FTXs and other corrupt enterprises becoming a destabilizing market force that can be used by an adversary. For ordinary people this kind of stuff at the very least undermines trust in the system and exposes the widespread incompetence/corruption rampant in the system.
The whole thing is rotten to the core. The last few decades we have been told that expertise and degrees matter. Well, did they matter at Sequoia? I mean, these are supposedly experts/professionals who are to know better.
You know what USA is starting to look like? Like that room you walk into at night and turn on the light and the roaches are scurrying around….
Cockroaches = good analogy.
A problem for conspiracy theorists pushing that the WEF (or whoever) wants crypto to replace traditional money is that the crypto exchange is so poorly managed. Either the WEF is a bunch of idiots that just destroyed a linchpin of their mastermind scheme and from whom we have nothing to fear long term b/c they are so incompetent, or there is no one in charge and it’s all chaos and herd mentality. Sometimes I think the former is more comforting to believe than the latter.
I can see intelligence agencies penetrating the organization to move money around for some types of operations, get the goods on investors and others involved, but not so much bringing about the events that have transpired. What would the motive be? The Chinese? Could just be a coincidence that the guy who brought about the liquidity problem for Fried is Chinese. Fried’s house of cards was going to fall soon anyhow and there are those who called the warning before it happened.
No Eric. They don’t want OUR crypto, they want THEIR crypto. To do that it is necessary to first regulate it, then replace it. To regulate it they need an excuse, a trigger event, they now have one.
I don’t think FTX was actually supposed to crash, this was unintentional, they were not done skimming it yet.
No one ever claimed the MotherWEFers were brilliant and infallible. They are actually mediocre mid-wits with a God complex.
Yup. And everyone then wants to get in early as preferential class A creditors.
This is an area where neither risk assessor’s or investment professionals have that much experience. So when investing in a product which is in a class with a short track record like crypto there is no real bench mark.
Every investor will fully have known crypto was a high risk gamble but if odds aligned and exits timed right a good bet.
None of the money these experienced institutional investors listed put in is even 1% of their wealth. It’s typically a small investment, a gamble, they would have fully understood they could lose it all and hedged elsewhere on non crypto correlated assets.
I don’t see this as WEF plot. Of the crypto.assets these seemed like one of the more solid ones if you want that asset class. It’s all high risk. You just gamble what you can afford to lose with these assets at higher level.
I also don’t see that anyone should be investigated for making a poor investment decision. They can probably justify the investment as the company being best of class at the time.
It was not the company itself that was instractably flawed.
The problem was the moving of investor money to a fund which investors would not want and did not know their money was in.
So issue is illegal undisclosed transfer of client funds to a connected third party which operated outside the system investors signed up.for.
Can’t blame investors for that. Unless they knew. And I doubt most if any did.
Caveat – beneficiaries need to be investigated not so much investors, the transfer circle Ukraine, Democrats and McConnell stinks high to heaven. Who were the beneficiaries of these schemes?
Only investor I would be very interested in seeing is government or indirect government related investors. Not really bothered about the rest.
I also think the arbitrage strategy of SFB was smart. In a crowded market he saw the gap and positioned well.
It’s like you hit a run of wins be at the casino and fail to realise when you are in over your head.
Good business’s idea, poor execution, unlucky with market conditions and poor judgement on political association.
FTX was not a business to be based on an idea. FTX, was a Ponzi scheme vaccum machine that sucked up all the scammers.
At the end of the day past all the financial ten Dollar words, Crypto is an overseas Dollar issuance.
The Fed took it down.
“The problem was the moving of investor money to a fund which investors would not want and did not know their money was in.”
Exactly. Like you say, crypto is a speculative and FTX appeared to be best in class. The funds new the risks except then Fried transferred funds to cover losses in his other company. That is the crime, probably.
Caveat, I read that Fried was guaranteeing a 15% return. Don’t know if that’s true, but if it is the big boys should have known better. There are no such guarantees – and it would lead to a Ponzi type situation. They probably didn’t take it seriously if true; or figured they’d get out before the money dried up. They didn’t figure on Fried transferring the money to cover other ventures’ losses.
Re; Ukraine – you’ll find criminal organizations running money through all of the crypto exchanges. That’s what those exchanges are good for; their best and highest use. Gamblers have many other options.
“They don’t want OUR crypto, they want THEIR crypto”
Oh of course. I’m surprised they didn’t launch missiles hidden behind holographs of airplanes into Fried’s Carribean HQ + a little controlled demolition to make sure FTX was completely out of action for good. Isn’t that what “they” do when they want a “triggering event”.
Fried ruined FTX all on his own as described by Ash, myself and others. No sinister cabal did that to him. He transferred assets out of FTX to cover huge losses in Alameda. Then an investor wanted to cash out a large amount and Fried couldn’t cover it and the whole thing imploded because Fried couldn’t cover the amount. Are the conspiracy theorists really suggesting that Fried would have someday recouped $billions in Alameda losses, repaid FTX the “loan” made to Alameda and that in the meanwhile no major investors would have looked to cash out or otherwise discovered the financial shenanigans? I’m reading that there were no normal financial controls, no legal and accepted accounting practices, etc…….but everything was going along nicely and the collapse was due to a WEF conspiracy? Well, Ok then.
Eric… when something is so stupid to be stupid, it is not a flaw it’s a feature. There is no source of his seed money to start FTX. Look at the Geopolitical environment. The Fed has replaced London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) with the Secured Overnight Finance Rate (SOFR) for all US institutions. Is the Fed fighting the City of London? Do the US commercial banks see their obsolescence in a Reset with one Central bank digital currency? Is Chairman Powel winning America’s independence from the City of London, finally?
Larry,
FTX funding (18 million bucks) of the poorly designed (to fail) TOGETHER study to disparage ivermectin, makes me wonder if we are also missing some big pharma funding.
https://www.yahoo.com/now/ftx-foundation-supports-global-expansion-144700892.html
considering the players we do know the list of players using a cutout of some sort or another could be endless.
ISL, it’s interesting but not shocking to learn FTX funded corrupt fake RCTs about repurposed drugs.
I’m just a dumb ER guy, not a virologist or epidemiologist. But it was clear to me pretty much from the outset – Feb/March 2020 – that Covid was a scam. A real virus, mind you, but with a lethality in the same order of magnitude as seasonal flu.
Fauci, WHO, Johns Hopkins and the rest of the public-health establishment repeatedly, brazenly conflated the case fatality rate (CFR) of about 3% with the overall infection fatality rate, which is about two orders of magnitude lower, ie 0.03%. (The case fatality rate of severe season flu is 6% or more every year per WHO.)
They did this, obviously, to keep people scared so that they wouldn’t riot over science-free, illegal lockdowns, which did nothing to slow the spread and indeed made things worse. (Good book to read is Michael Senger’s ‘Snake Oil.’)
We know – from the war on HCQ/ivermectin, from the vax mandates, etc, that Big Pharma has ‘captured’ not only FDA, CDC and NIH, but also the top medical journals. The peer-review process as well as the research itself have also been ‘captured.’
That means, obviously, that Pfizer et al can buy the ‘study’ they need to produced the result that’s best for their bottom line.
I know of providers who have treated hundreds, maybe thousands of patients with HCQ or ivermectin with dramatic effect. I took ivermectin myself when I got Covid, and lemme tell you: Taken early, it’s a wonder drug.
Knowing that the research process is totally corrupt, I have never thought twice about repurposing such medications: The ‘anecdotal’ evidence I was getting from other providers is much more reliable than the preordained, ‘randomized controlled’ fiction ginned up by the pharm companies.
In my practice we’re absolutely forbidden to prescribe such repurposed medications for Covid. However I live near the border, and such medications are available cheaply, without a prescription or nosy questions, from Mexican pharmacists. I use the FLCCC protocol.
However if you go that route, under no circumstances should you declare it when returning Stateside. The US Customs guys do like to throw their weight around. Just wear cargo pants and distribute it inconspicuously about your pockets.
JMJ59, thanks for this. In Africa which had very few COVID deaths compared to flu you could just buy ivermectin and take or hcq and take it. Price went up but all hospitals were proscribing it
In India they got control of Delta wave using a cocktail including ivermectin, US officials personally travelled to India to get agreement India would not disclose details of this cheap cocktail of drugs.
My uncle in Canada, triple Vax and following all the f up COVID isolation rules was told one thing he must not do was take ivermectin when he had COVID, he was hospitalised and remains on a very expensive cocktail if hormones and steroids and a bunch of whack.
What surprised me in the conversation with my aunt is they specifically told him not to take it. Despite this being one of the safest drugs to take and commonly used world over by people for worms.
I take it most doctors dear foe their careers if they prescribe what they think is best. However there has to be a way to litigate or get scrutiny and accountability for this. Or west is doomed to be guniea pigs of the state.
jmj59 – from what I understand Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine HAD to be banned as treatments or else there couldn’t have been Emergency Use Authorization granted to mRna vaccines – which authorization apparently can only be granted if there are no alternative therapies. Relatively cheap and effective therapies were replaced by mRna vaccines plus treatment protocols indicating very expensive *riskier* drugs like Remdesivir, which costs thousands of dollars per patient.
BTW 65-75% of FDA funding for drug reviews comes from “user fees” paid by pharmaceutical companies. And drug reviews are a big part of the FDA’s scope. Conflicts of interest are thus rife.
SO while it’s perfectly plausible and likely that imprudent investors were chasing the prospect of 15% ROI, the pharmaceutical angle is nevertheless intriguing, as billions are at stake especially if mRna vaccine hesitancy can be overcome world-wide. FTX’s bankrolling of “TOGETHER Trials” which discredited ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine deserves investigation.
“I am betting that some of you have some insights on some of these companies and can help shed light on whether there were some nefarious intents at the beginning or if people who should have known better failed to do their due diligence.”
“What do you think?”
Reliance on binary logic is not fit for purpose whilst shared common purposes are not deemed to exist.
And gazing as you do, what common purposes reflect in your glass?
It wouldn’t surprise me if the entire US fintech and venture capital industries are in up to their eyeballs. For the past 20 years, Silicon Valley (not the geographic construct, but the distributed technology sector) has been nothing but an exceedingly efficient incubator for the greatest financial scams ever perpetrated on humankind. That means, of course, that FTX is just the tip of the iceberg. Just wait until Tether explodes – and it’s coming.
Tether scandal exploded months ago. What we now know is the same people behind FTX were involved in Tether
This was a planned, entirely orchestrated money raising and laundering scheme to quickly enrich the power brokers and the Democrats. In addition to consolidation – and thus control – of the burgeoning, Wall Street /USD threatening crypto industry.
All of the corrupt status quo players were involved and SBF was the perfect front man, developed by his liberal/financial/political parents to capture the hearts and minds of “the kids” of America. In addition to ticking all the Woke boxes for these same players..
It was all going according to plan right up until Chaopeng Zhao (CZ), the CHINESE spoiler, blew it up. GREAT strategic move that must be commended!
Zhao is a Canadian citizen living in Singapore.
Yup and he is sick of being treated like a Chinese state asset. He’s CEO of a western tech company and that’s it.
Binance wanted to acquire interest in ftx they saw the rot on financials and got out. It wasn’t just Zhao their entire due diligence team called bullshit and he pulled it as he had to.
Note that FTX was a partner of WEF . Came into being shortly in advance of the Event 201 planning for the demic. Financial systems were cracking behind the scenes. Blackrock, (9T under management) is a major force for ESG and great reset. Fink was not “convinced” to throw money at this. This is how “they” implement the agenda. Link below shows some of the projects FTX funded.
Ukraine took action to legalize use of crypto just before Russian Special Operation. It was rumored the Globalists were operating off Ukraine trafficking, drugs, human, arms, illegal research labs, etc. The war disrupted this and $$$ from DC (& EU) replaced the $$$ stream. Send billions, kick back millions. What’s not to like. If you don’t want an audit trail, give it to 10 crazy kids on drugs. Enron/AA had to shred paper. FTX records? Ain’t no stinkin’ records. Hackers got it all. SBF is a stooge.
https://uncanceled.news/ftx-was-heavy-into-funding-vaccine-research-biotech-engineering-and-other-globalist-depopulation-agendas/
He could be e a chosen one
Epstein Island never shut-down. It just moved
i will have to do some research but the names of blackrock and goldman sachs would be on the list
these are a couple of articles
Sam Bankman-Fried was considered a moral leader even as he was ripping off millions of people – Tucker
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-sam-bankman-fried-considered-moral-leader-ripping-off-millions-people
FTX Implosion Leads to Chaos in the Streets – Bix Weir (on USA Watchdog with Greg Hunter)
https://rumble.com/v1urn8a-ftx-implosion-leads-to-chaos-in-the-streets-bix-weir.html
————————
for a quick history item for the military buffs out there; this was the 1st AA manpad back from 1945 used in the battle of berlin
just like the old ww2 bazooka could still take out some apcs and armoured cars the fliegerfaust could still take out helicopters and maybe drones at close range with a lucky shot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fliegerfaust
this guy built one
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/09/the-fliegerfaust-roars-back-to-life-after-77-years/
regards,
ralph
I know nothing about any of these companies, but it’s very interesting that the Fried Bank Robber was not quietly bailed out by the Bidet regime flunkies. You’d have thought that after all the money the Fried Bankrupt lavished on donations to Bidet and how much help he gave the DayMockRatIck Party on money laundering through Ukranazistan, they’d have been grateful. I’m pretty sure the Fried Bankbuster imagined he would get that help too, which is why he was so cocky. Ergo, the logical question is, why was he not bailed out? The only reason I can think of is that this will be used as a casus belli to impose crypto regulation. But then I don’t really know anything about cryptocurrency anyway.
The names of the creditors are being shielded.
https://aim4truth.org/2022/11/20/ftx-bankruptcy-attorney-shield-names-of-creditors/
Don’t know , Larry , but this is what your country has become and continues to lead the West in: crap.
And not even real crap! At least physical faeces serves a purpose recycling nutrients. Here we have financialised/virtual crap – the emperor’s new crap! It’s purpose is to cycle/siphon virtual wealth for those playing with F.I.R.E.
Andrei Martyanov talks a lot about the ‘real’ economy. There, real knowledge, real skills, real experience are required to: grow food/run a farm, make shoes or planes or electricity, replace a driveshaft or a hip, teach others how to do these things, and on and on…
Hopefully, those who do real things in the real economy eventually grow tired of the parasitic fraudsters and throw them off.
Your friend Andrei talks about the real world while living in the pampered US .
8 to the bar, keep it funky.
Steve,that remark sounds petty and juvenile,way beneath you.every one of us Americans are from a different country.except maybe the natives and even they were immigrants if you go back far enough.
Most of this are hedge funds and private equity firms – Their main mode of business is to pool large sums of money from deep pocketed investors and invest in either companies or sectors ie FX, FI etc – Although conventional wisdom says that most of the investment dollars come from legitimate firms , that’s just a myth – I have been in investment banking for around 20 plus years and can say quite confidently that most of this are illegal sources of income like cartels and criminal gangs – This are the only businesses who do all their transactions via cash and in humongous volumes and the farce of AML / KYC via SWIFT in big banks is designed to help them wash their money ,layer it and introduce it into the regular economy via this funds and firms – The cartels saved the banks during the GFC in 2007-’08 and now this organisations are increasingly moving to crypto hoping to remain invisible and non taxable but they seem to forget the first rule of the blockchain – Everything is visible to everyone and everything is verifiable and recorded – Hopefully the liquidators of FTX use high quality forensic auditors to figure out where the money went because the politicians and military and intelligence folks who got their ukraine pay offs in crypto would like to understand how their nest egg evaporated overnight – But it’s highly unlikely that the entire truth will ever come out because it’s just too much for people to bear – Personally I believe this could be a Russian intelligence led hack maybe using highly sophisticated quantum tools to remove and then redistribute the entire value of FFT with fiat currencies or commodities which are then kind of non traceable if you use options or forwards or derivatives to reinvest the proceeds – That way ,they are really hurting the warmongering western elites who’s waging a non stop war against their nation
“. . . cartels and criminal gangs . . . .” Neo-sovereignty.
The United States, with its endless war and endless warmongering, is a warlord. The financial system that used to be based upon cautious investment is now run almost entirely upon wanton and open criminality. Your return on investment? Just their spoils of war.
“You will have nothing and be happy.” Are we there yet?
Orlando Bravo from Thoma Bravo got a law degree at Stanford Law School, the home of professores Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman.
The following backers seem to be crypto-seeders and computer nerds.
Regarding Digital Currency Group (DCG): After the FTX bust DCG scrubbed its “Who We Are” web page (names, photos, biographies) from its own website… maybe a look into wayback machine would help…
The timing of might be important. Something frightened them in August.
There:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220803075405/https://dcg.co/who-we-are/
Gone:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220929093047/https://dcg.co/page-not-found
Thanks @ MeThePerson!
Lookielook, what the cat dragged in… Lawrence Summers, the dirtbag as Board Adviser. And DCG seems to be in big trouble:
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/crypto-conglomerate-dcg-trouble-genesis-verge-bankruptcy
Like Epstein and Theranos.
Something going on behind the scenes.
Too many people in the shadows with way too much pull
Same old same old.
From suites to “T” shirts it’s all about not giving a sucker a even chance or as Tony Soprano once said, “ the money goes up and the shit goes down.”
This is all there is left of the US economy, fraud, cheese burgers, idiot boy & girl CEO’s , guns, bombs and no pioneers. It’s the same plot, the same YouTube vid with ads , over and over again.
But the US knows for sure, China stole America and it’s all Putins fault!
Note: repeat the last sentence three times in any social media blog or MSM publication and you’ve got a job until impact.
Seulement l’arbre qui cache la forêt…
à court therme,C’est la FED qui veut interdire le Bitcoin aux profits de leur propre monnaie numériques…
après 20 ans de procédures judiciaires … affaires classées sans suite … Alléluia
Anyone in his/her life who has bought one crypto, one SmartPhone or taken even one jab or tampon swab has to do some deep inner-soul searching and ask: “why and cui bono?”first and foremost every-time. Most don’t realize it but they are being controlled and manipulated to feed the SYSTEM. These are all strategic WMDs in my book, yes WEAPONS of MIND DECEPTION.
Anyone in his/her life who has bought one crypto, one SmartPhone or taken even one jab or tampon swab… — Peppe
LOL. How many people do you know that have not done at least one of these things?
That’s the problem. Or part of it, anyway. Human behavior is predictable, and controllable, so long as bothersome moral, legal or Constitutional constraints on elite behavior do not interfere. This is not a point of dispute, sociologically speaking, but rather a logical outcome of our evolutionary social behavior — although technology changes the means of application of elite power, it does not change the social nature of the people upon whom that power rests.
Wow, what a mouthful. Want an example?
This morning, while waiting in a queue, a man described his political views (Federal government is the problem), highlights of his career (aerospace defense industry), his four grandchildren (he fears for them) and that the nation is going down the tubes (the FBI is now a political hit squad).
So I challenged him and asked what he was personally prepared to do to save his grandchildren? His response? He’s waiting for a strong leader to follow (like Mike Flynn)…
Wow… Ontario Teacher’s Pension Fund… What a shame.
Probably sucked them in with all of the goofy woke ideology. Canadians look to be head over heels with that silliness.
Larry,
Sometimes others do some heavy lifting and this is the case with Fried Bank Robber.
https://www.2ndsmartestguyintheworld.com/p/ftx-on-steroids-is-tether-the-biden
FTX is a growler compared to the iceberg that is Tether……
Larry,
A quote from another era comes to mind: “everywhere you look with [this], there are the fingerprints of intelligence”.
Sure, maybe it was just greed, and just folks assuming the folks before them had done the homework, but some things just don’t “scan”.
Like one revelation (can’t independently confirm its veracity, perhaps another reader can) that FTX itself did not have a bank account, and that investors were wiring funds to the sister company Alameda, *when there were no restrictions on transactions with affiliates, etc.*
I work in the financial industry (risk management, specifically) and have a some knowledge of how things are supposed to work. Any serious, sophisticated investor, say a large Canadian pension fund, will have very rigorous due diligence processes.
So, for instance, prior to “Closing” or “Funding” a transaction, they would ensure that the wiring instructions of where the funds are being sent to align perfectly with the entity that they have agreed to fund; they would have a detailed organization chart of all entities related to the entity they are funding; they would insist on “representations & warranties” regarding ” restrictions on transactions with affiliates and related entities” (meaning, simply put, if I give you money, you can’t lend it to your brother/cousin, etc.); they would vet the risk management, compliance, and governance controls of the entity.
These are the most basic of things they would do. For an investment of $10 million, much less $100 million.
Intelligence agencies are always interested in sources of untraceable funds to help off-the-books operations. Hence their participation in the drug trade, and other unseemly activities, often alongside some rather unsavoury characters. But why go through all that trouble and danger when you can actually crowd-source your funds from “normal” people – clueless retail/individuals to supposedly sophisticated institutional investors?
Intel agencies have “prop” (front) companies of many kinds all of the world. These include financial firms with a “white” side (completely legit) and “black” side. These can be used as jumping-off points to place individuals in key positions (especially the mid/back office) of the large, well-known outfits such as those at the top of your post.
I think the PTB, who funded FTX, are the same ones who fleeced the American people. They have just about picked the bones of the United States clean. Some are still picking at the carcass, sucking the bone marrow out. This would be people like the Brady’s, who got paid in advance. Or think they did. The PTB the Brady’s are not.
Because the PTB consider themselves rulers of the world — global hegemons — they are now fleecing the rest of the planet. Mainly because they are desperate for everything. Whatever you’ve got left. Whatever the world has left. Whatever everybody has left.
They are doing it from behind the safety of two world’s oceans, safe and secure in their belief that no one will dare touch them where they live.
Black Friday is alive and well. Just ask the “crowd funders.” Too bad, at this point, with the billions and trillions needed just to keep doors open, the American consumer is no longer king or queen or whatever of anything. They are insignificant, meaningless.
The IRS is collecting record amounts of cash and is still running huge deficits, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Billions if the truth were told. That money has to come from somewhere. Wanton and open criminality is filling the gap nicely.
Hi, Larry. The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan was mentioned in the tweet Series C. These birds are funded in their personal pension two dollars from the Ontario Government and one from their salaries. This pension plan is also the largest in Ontario, yielding large power through their members, the teachers, and their uni on hanger ons. They strike as you know, to, well enhance the lives of children! But, this criminal venture here exposes them to scrutiny, and hopefully some prosecutor here in Ontario will see to justice. After all the tax payer funded these clowns two to one. Cannot get a better deal than that.
In the US, union pension funds are low-hanging fruit for organized crime.
Jeff Childer’s over at Coffee and Covid has some good bits on this. As an example:
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/c-and-c-news-sunday-november-13-2022
“This is your chance to drill down and help try to unravel how this whole scam got started.”
Remember the Roman games? The coliseum? “Are you not entertained?” Throwing bread to the masses?
Okay. Fine. Now it’s 2022. The deal has been altered. The masses have been moved into the arena, the Romans are gathering up the masses’ bread, and whatever else is left.
That’s what crypto is. That’s what FTX is all about. A distraction, a diversion from the main event, which is picking your pockets clean, while the lion, tigers, bears and dragons feast on your intestines, while you’re still alive.
Got it yet? No. Because the masses are blind and stupid. They still believe they are the Romans. Civis Romanus sum. “I am a Roman Citizen.”
Now try claiming “Civis Americanus sum.” “I am an American Citizen.”
Now go down to our southern border and say it. Now go stand before your fully dysfunctional government and tell them you want an immediate end to the endless wars and endless warmongering. And how you want a balanced budget. Go stand before the walled up United States Capitol Building (the people’s house) and say it. Now join your January 6TH brethren, in jail.
Say it!
FTX: The house always wins.
That was well said. My countrymen are oblivious. Even as they vote, they do not understand. It is all a sham. And going back 200+ years it always was. There was a brief period of freedom in this country. The country was largely unpopulated, and disease and genocide emptied the rest. People outran the power structure. But now the power structure is back in charge. And while lip service is given to the courts, and the Constitution, and muh “freedom”. It is all a joke. They will do what they will do. And your children will be poor serfs that have a moderately better lifestyle than medieval serfs did. But there is an answer. Money. Go hustle and make money. Do not be a debt slave. Do not sell your soul for a McMansion and a $70K vehicle with a 7-year note. Live a small and balanced life. Get a police commission. Most departments have reserve components. Go work some parades, get some free training. And you are one of the Praetorian Guards then. Which will buy you a little elbow room. And be ready to leave. The minute you feel the heat, be ready to leave. There is nothing left to fight for here. I fought for this country and bled. I get the VA care and disability check to prove it. But never again. Because that was all a fantasy. Take care of you and yours. Be ruthless with vetting your commitments. And remember. Ultimately, none of it matters. Watch the sunset. Pat your dog. Drink your beer. There. You won as much as a man can.
this is the second post of yours i have read.they both have a ring of actual experience in them,no BS factor.
The United States had a Golden Era. Every empire does. Ours ran from 1870 until 1970. People will look back on that time of relative prosperity, cheap energy, and tranquility (especially the tranquility) and beg, BEG, for its return. Trouble is there’s only one Golden Era. You only get one. One per customer.
Want to know what I am really talking about? Watch the Twilight Zone episode, “Walking Distance.” You want to know how this all ends? Look up the biography of the lead in this episode.
An accurate summation. Endless war, endless, war mongering, tens of trillions of federal debt can only happen with a fiat(dishonest) monetary system that has no backing of real wealth, gold and silver. The last connection to gold standard was severed by Nixon in 1971. The last 50 years speaks for itself.
People want something for nothing and now we are reaping the consequences in so many different and destructive ways, not the least of which is moral decay, rampant dishonesty and inflation. The destruction of the dollar soon to come.
Reality is coming for us.
Please do not insult the late, great Larry Fein 🙂
Larry fine actually had talent, in addition to his comedy he was also a very good musician and to the bet of my knowledge, never swindled anyone.
“People outran the power structure.”
They got out ahead of the ghosts. No more. We are now stuck, trapped inside the haunted mansion of the United States, of the west, of Western Civilization. All the exits are sealed shut.
Now the fun begins.
Mr. Johnson,
I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.
You are ascribing a conspiracy to FTX when the much more likely scenario is a Ponzi schemer using generated/illusory profits to buy presence.
In particular: if you go past all of the evidence of incompetence in operations, it is clear that SBF/FTX did accomplish the intake of a million customers’ worth of crypto investments. This is value creation in the sense of creating one of the biggest fish in the crypto exchange pond.
Secondly, the eventual failure wasn’t the operations per se – it was a failure of liquidity. And this failure of liquidity seems quite clearly due to sending FTX customer funds to another SBF entity which had lost huge sums via failed trades.
Yes, there was money lost/wasted on all manner of other things like houses, sports logo promotions, Democrat party contributions but these were $100M plus minus rounding errors compared to the $10B+ transferred to the failed traders.
Even the “bailouts” that FTX conducted probably weren’t that material since they were using FTX stock funny money anyway.
The cap tables on FTX are clear: $1.6B worth of incoming venture capital. Sequoia, Ontario Teacher’s fund, Softbank, the usual suspects. Nothing out of line with any other random Silicon Valley unicorn in the past decade and actually more sensible than a lot of the other unicorns. FTX was actually cash flow positive from the operations sense, as far as I can tell so far – compare cash flow positive with Uber’s burning of $20B? $25B? in cash since its inception.
Unless and until hard evidence comes to light concerning counterfactuals to the above, the conspiracy angle should be a “nonexistent until proven existent” rather than “where there’s smoke, there’s fire”.
Oh yes nothing to see here, forget about that $700 million going out the back door due to “hackers”. Ok Yes I accept that, just a mistake, nothing corrupt here, happens all the time. Just an accounting error. Well maybbe Russian hackers, you know how those guys are, I am surprised the wizards of MSNBC like Joe and Mika haven’t figured that out yet.
The Democrats were certainly innocent bystanders in all this and are as shocked as anyone, and all that marvelous charity to the suffering people in Ukraine, certainly none of those funds went into the Lichtenstein bank accounts of the oligarchs or Zelenski, it all went o food and medicine for the people, I believe that completely.
Of that SBF had a backdoor in the accounting systems to allow him to drain money bypassing the controls and reporting requirements and in fact hide the fact that the money was moved. Oh yes, just an honest mistake, nothing malign here, it happens all the time, just ask Hunter Biden- the smartest man the President has even known. I believe that completely. I’d love to stay and discuss it more but I have to wait for my $300 million from the Nigerian Minister of Finance to get transferred so I can close the deal on that brick bridge I am buying in NY.
Your level of sarcasm warms my heart.
I’m sure Fried and his weirdo pansexual employees hacked themselves to make a nice little stash for legal fees and to live on after the dust settles – maybe a get out of jail not so free card. I don’t see why it indicates anything more than that.
I used to live by the phrase ” never attribute to malevolence what can be explained by incompetence”
I just don’t see incompetence taking them this far. If they were all just truly stupid it would never have gotten this far. And it’s not just Sam Bankster-Fraud being incompetent, a whole entire cascade of incompetence threading through the finance and investment systems.
You just cannot have so many consistently fuck up this badly for that long.
It breaks Occasionally Razor into tiny little shards.
Alex, they weren’t totally stupid. They did make some serious money early on. That’s what attracted investors. They were just immature and mentally imbalanced. They quickly fell apart after initial success. Very predictable. Get used to it. Life is lots of screw-ups and stupid. Success is just winning more than screwing up, avoiding screwing up fatally at some point, screwing up at a decreasing rate over time (aka “learning”) and hedging against screw ups. There is no life/government/military/company/individual investor without screw ups, even big ones.
@Eric Newhill
“Maybe” they made real money early on.
The criminogenic accounting that I have seen so far makes it unclear that this trading skill was real. If you aren’t even competent enough to record incoming crypto deposits – why exactly would “trading” profits be more carefully tracked?
Let’s also note that the concepts of “market based” profits (i.e. the tide rising) as opposed to “skill based” profits (i.e. profits above the tide rising” require careful analysis and record keeping. Even just skewing the record dates in a riding tide environment is enough to make anyone look like a genius.
The only thing we know for a fact is that Alameda clearly couldn’t trade for profit when the tide is going out.
Time will tell if they are the typical all-in trend traders that do the Icarus once the trend ends, as opposed to criminal.
C1ue,
You may well be correct, in fact you probably are. However, that is nothing new either. The “dotcom” bubble was similar machinations. Markets are psychological and not nearly as rational as people want to believe. I’m sure you know that. What I read is that, initially, the company made some serious money on one or a handful of arbitrage trades. That’s what gained FTX/Fried attention. Not a reason I would ever invest, but lots of Greed and Hope is always looking for the Wonder Kid (more irrational human psychology). Fried’s education credentials would further support the idea, in the minds of the susceptible, that he is The One. “Hey Buddy, I got a system. Want in?”
Eric
Making money and showing paper gains which was mostly vapor is not the same thing.
Generating a billion numbers in a computer and finding some sucker to buy one for a dollar does make you a billionaire.
Yes Eric. They made serious money early on. The key term being “early on” that’s what pyramid scams always do, make serious money (for a few) early on.
FTX had multiple silos through which funds were routed in and out.
This is Classic Money Laundering 101.
Yep. I’m w/ you.
And, when you are guaranteeing a 15% ROI in today’s market, you’re pretty much dooming yourself to be running a Ponzi scheme w/ liquidity issues, regardless of your original intent.
He’s been my favorite since the late nineties – a true national treasure and since you quoted him once before in reference to FTX…
https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/the-solemn-stillness-before-winter/
I could never and still can’t understand how crypto, outside the aegis of any governmental authority, could be taken as a viable repository for wealth. Blockchain-based currency, representing either a gold standard or else the “full faith and credit” of a particular government (and subject to that government’s regulation and the relative value of its monetary issue as exchange) could seemingly serve the same function as currency or bank deposits which are essentially also digital at this point in time. In fact, efforts to create such currency on the part of a number of countries, particularly in Asia, are underway, as I understand it.
But once we saw Bitcoin and other independently “mined” blockchain currencies issued outside of any governmental authorization, their value always seemed essentially inconsequential. Subsequently, we (at least in the US) started seeing adds on TV for viewers to “get started” in crypto. This always looked like yet another ponzi scheme, but now advertised on a humongous scale. Now the collapse of FTX pretty much proves it.
But what is so shocking about FTX’ collapse is the reveal of its intimate connection with the political power structure, especially including the nexus between funding war in Ukraine, the Democratic Party election campaign (as well as some number of Republican players in Congress), so-called “regulatory efforts” in Congress, and this pumped up, virtual “wealth.” But from the point of view of making things happen on the political front, at least for a little and very consequential (over control of Congress) while, it seems all the now evaporated “coin” was real enough.
It was probably the same mechanism as Elizabeth Holmes was funded and Anna Deley. Everybody is afraid to miss the “next big thing.”
Does a nuclear war qualify as ‘the next best thing’?
Because I’m starting to get those vibes.
You overestimate the brains and underestimate the greed of these people. They want the money NOW, and “Après moi, le déluge.”
My vote for potential FTX bankrollers/funders rhymes with “Clinton Foudation”…or the “Open Society Foundations”…all roads lead to Rome if you follow the logic lol.
Under normal conditions, I’d say this whole thing will be swept under a rug, SBF will commit suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head twice while handcuffed, and the incredulous American public will go check the football scores and see who is ahead in America’s Got Talent.
That being said, this condition is far from normal. The controlled demolition of the country’s economy is well under way, Soros is still walking around, Hillary still cackling and Trump is about to go to prison (again).
But the economy is no longer fixable, the diesel shortage will be felt in all sectors, the meltdown that is coming will be like nothing anyone alive has ever seen before.
Russia will have the US made mess in Ukraine cleaned up very soon, the clueless American public will be shocked at what comes out of that and even the stenographer press will not be able to keep the lid on it. People will want answers as to why they cannot afford to fill up their car to go to work is they even have a job, the Fed money machine will burn out it’s main bearings running high speed 24/7, China will unload the last of the dollar bonds, and we’ll be burning bundles of dollars to stay warm. Cold and hunger is a great motivator.
FTX however is the turd in the punch bowl, there will be no papering this one over, when people wake up to find their pension funds that counted on 8% return actually went negative they will be locking and loading.
Putin may or may not release the documents from Ukraine on COVID origins – I am convinced with substantial evidence that COVID was cooked in Ukraine with US funding and deliberately released in Wuhan to frame China in case it all got out of hand which it did. People will not want to hear that the Vaxx is a kill shot, as too many already took it, but denial is not a strategy nor is hope that you will escape. If he does not it will be because he would prefer to let us – the people – fix it, TPTB will be nearly anything to avoid that level of exposure and probably not shy about pushing the button to try to save themselves.
The one bright spot is Maricopa County. I am trying hard to manage my expectations, but so far the election there is not certified and won’t be until the AG gets a long list of very interesting questions answered. The Dems in Colorado waived their right to a recount in the House race, the reason is obvious, they failed to fake enough ballots to swing it and no way do they want an examination of what was submitted, better to lose then to expose the whole rotten mess.
Also the Hunter laptop is a detailed chronicle of Bidens crimes of bribery and treason. If he somehow avoids Arkanscide, the evidence has already been well-perused and catalogued by independent investigators. FTX will be in there somewhere. And the hurt will not be theoretical it will be real to virtually everyone and many will be out for blood.
For the Dems the best case in Arizona is to hold a new election for the reasons above and eat the loss, but I have a feeling Lake will not let it drop even if she is declared the winner, with all the name calling and accusations tossed about, she is the type who will want to demonstrate to an undeniable certainty that she was right all along.
What will the Dems do? Call out the Antifa shock troops? Yeah I think there are enough real Americans sick of this shit.
As for me I am brushing up on my Russian.
In a healthy society, Hunter would have already been condemned and jailed.
In a healthy society, there would be no silence over videos of POW executions.
We are not a healthy society.
Yes and I think soon to suffer the fate shared by every unhealthy society throughout history .
Accidental drowning in a strong ocean current is how the go now. One in 2021, one in 2022. They have to wait a few more months for this one or people will wonder.
Isn’t that how they offer Ghislane Maxwell old man?
“I hope that the appropriate governing authorities are conducting a full-scale investigation.”
About the investigation I believe it may occur, but big fishes being punished, I really do not believe, especially when we see some many important authorities involved.
as others have commented – early stage VCs act in a pack – once one jumps in a bunch will.
seed round looks pretty innocent to my eyes – likely big dawg from list in the article is greylock there.
Note: 2019 crunchbase info is a bit different from what is shown in this article. Crunchbase has Race Capital as lead investor (McCann and Yeung). http://web.archive.org/web/20210829154707/https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/ftx-exchange-seed–9894efed
the 2019 binance investment is interesting BUT they already had consensus (ethereum) by then so again probably nothing to see here.
the March 2020 N/A is apparently: https://rocketreach.co/matthew-graham-email_239837076 a rochester/berkely student, a 135 lbs wrestler, learned mandarin, likes crypto then moved to CN to start a fund?? (college kid moves to a new country CN and starts a fund? wish i could do that !!). Has said the investment was mid-7 figures(Liquid Value Fund at SinoCapital). Coinbase comparison before/after that date suggests 8M.
–>But then – boom – 900M B round?? unusually big jump there. Lightspeed first appears here and – as an aside – has strong israeli connections. Sequoia silicon valley brand would be the biggest name also jumps in here. Also co-lead was a canadian teacher’s pension fund? seems a bit high risk for a pension fund…
http://web.archive.org/web/20220612125045/https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ftx-exchange/investor_financials
–> IMHO: something started out on a typical trajectory and got taken over around B-round time as handy for various purposes. my guess is initially the main strategic draw was potential access/influence over binance. Like the Pelosi hammer – it is simply the tool that was there at the time?
Really appreciate your insights.
If an archive link has info important to you, make sure you screen capture it. Davef’s crunchbase financials link is unreachable for me. I tried it without my VPN, too. I can’t pass the human verification. I can’t reach later versions of that page, but can get to earlier ones that show the before and after the huge deposit so I think I see what he was getting at. I was able to use the time slider at the top of the archive page.
Website owners can choose to have their data removed, at least for display, from that archive. I don’t think that happened in this case because the earlier versions are still there.
Re; the Canadian pension fund – woke ideology, which Fried knew how to play to, is attractive to Canadian govt. US pension funds have been involved in all manner of high risk investments w/ high risk players. e.g. the teamsters fund was used, for years, to finance the American Mafia to build Las Vegas and for other endeavors, especially, but in no way limited to, via Jimmy Hoffa and then Fitzsimmons when they ran the union – though that relationship did get Hoffa whacked eventually when he refused to retire and threatened to work w/ the govt to get the mob out of the unions. That is fact. The mafia, unlike Fried, actually paid the fund back with interest owed. The mafia was also much better at making and managing money (imagine that given the paucity of fancy college degrees amongst them). All it takes is a corrupt union leader and a few underlings who are either in on it or know how to look the other way.
After reading all this stuff I ask myself seeing that Switzerland is not neutral is Davos 2023 within hypersonic missile range? Crazy read Larry. Thanks
Just skimmed BBC news and the only mention of Ukraine is, ‘Ukrainian sources say they’ve found Russian torture ‘chamber’ with bullets and batons’, right on cue.
Notice how BBC attempts to neuter POW executions with the above, with the usual “Ukrainian sources’.
I assume the same sleight of hand techniques are and will continue at work with FTX.
BBC and its multiple clones daily….never cease to amaze, or disgust in ever increasing ways.
The hardest task before us today is to not be turned into nihilists by the nihilists that would rule over us.
Bankman-Fried is just the Clown in the front of the Show. Like Zelensky (on the other end of the scam in the Ukraine) he is just a puppet of the International jew Banksters.
Whatever the ‘ultimate motive’ of this Scam actually Is, its effect is to Enrich a bunch of ‘god’s chosen people’ ™ at the expense of the ‘goyim’. Look at (((who))) is Involved – Every One of the principles (that have been identified so far) are of the (((tribe))).
EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
How is Binance of the tribe?
McConnell and co benefitted too. Why no hard questions there?
Looks like Russia intends to give up the Zap Power Plant to UN to control.
Good thing if the Ukrainians stop shelling it- a more peaceful time for everyone.
I think the Ukrainians are just shelling resident areas whenever they get a handphone signal from the residents. Sigh.
Come on you Russians! Stay strong!
Larry, thanks for the biggest rueful belly laugh of the day — “I hope there’s a deep government investigation…”
Given all the priors, not going to be anything other than a Madoff-Epstein-JFK-Church modified limited hangout. This is like asking Pelosi to perform an appendectomy on herself.
I recall reading sci fi and Clancy-genre tales where incorruptible and unimpeachable Good Guys with Special Ops James Bond skill sets go about “filtering” (Ukronatzi term) the body politic to rebalance the Force. Also not going to happen, cuz all those types are already in the service of the Overlords.
Larry, thanks for the biggest rueful belly laugh of the day — “I hope there’s a deep government investigation…”
Given all the priors, not going to be anything other than a Madoff-Epstein-JFK-Church—9/11 “investigation” by corrupt DOJ, FBI, Congress…
The only reason these schemes work so well in the USA is because time and time the people who do it do not spend years in prison or worse. Something needs to change. Same w pharma. They can make a poison pill but never spend a day behind bars
This list has some of the most powerful fund managers on the planet (not Vanguard, but Black Rock is in there) with tech specialists prominent. SBF is obviously a stooge. The Ivermectin connection is disturbing. This speaks to who is really pulling the strings on many fronts and Ukraine as the vehicle of choice for global money laundering of every type figures large and explains why so many interests want the conflict to continue.
The likelihood of anyone getting to the bottom of this FTX thing is remote in my opinion, though we can hope otherwise. The problem is finding anyone with a meaningful mandate with the power to investigate it. Too many powerful people won’t allow it. SBF and maybe a few others will be thrown to the wolves but the whole show will have moved on, disappearing into the mist. The loss will be written off while the real beneficiaries of the scam are shielded.
Perhaps the most interesting name I have read in your posts about this is Ihor Kolomoisky. What an extraordinary character he is. A Ukrainian/Israeli billionaire oligarch who sponsored Zelensky, banked the billion (that ultimately was disappeared) that Biden gave Ukraine for sacking their chief prosecutor, and having his own private army that some say shot down MH17. He is a true Bond villain figure.
Wow i can contribute with something🤯
One of the guys that have been shouting from the rooftops for a while is “Bitfinexèd”
https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed
He is still active on twitter and answer questions, his medium is not active but his older stuff is still there. (link to medium on his twitter)
In his twitter you will also find other researchers, if you do not have twitter use https://nitter.net/ just paste @Bitfinexed and hit search.
Nitter lets you use twitter without being “login to continue blocked” when trying to read replies to a tweet without a twitter account.
Question: Explain how it differs from wild animals devouring each other alive oblivious to the screams?
Answer: Clothing.
If the current leaders of our beloved Western democracies have been espousing Davos WEF rhetoric about “building back better” as they bankrupt their respective economies with outrageous money printing and deficits in an attempt to initiate the collapse and great reset…..then we have to ask ourselves how would this Reset pay it’s universal basic income and other socialist spending programs and that would involve the digital currency waiting in the wings right now….and the only realistic threat to the government control of the wealth of the people would probably be block chain crypto currency…..so they set up and destroyed the exchange while the government calls for severe regulation and restrictions on cryptocurrency…while causing a shit storm which may very well cause the much wanted economic collapse that WEF needs. Also interesting to note that China holds the world’s largest crypto exchange and the original crypto Bitcoin is considered a commodity and not a security like every other cryptocurrency so will be outside regulatory control. I suspect the dots will connect corrupt democrats…Ukraine ….big pharma…. China and AI
I offer an easy explanation.
The firm started as a legit firm, which would explain why the mom and pop put their lives work on the line.
However, somewhere along the line someone made a deal with the DEVIL, which lets call it greed. Once the deal was sealed all the money were laundered until everything fell apart and the pansy took the fall
“ Show Me A High Tech Millionaire / Billionaire and I’ll Show You A Software Code / Hardware Design / Crypto T H I E F !!! ……No honor amongst thieves in the Dirty World of High Tech Money .
https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-lose-214-million-in-one-year
(to see the entire article, hit the link, “I want to see it first) as substack is a pay to view.
Provided just to add a nauseous dimension from Sequoia’s venture capitalist who had her hair blown back by FTX and SBF (sic) to the tune of $214 mil; will this arrogant and smug product of the ivy leagues be fired, observers would want to know, nah, because of diversity.
The cringe factor is heavy in this one-do not miss the interview.
SBF, WEF, and the mile of red yarn…
every time you think you’ve seen the bottom of the FTX rabbithole, the bottom drops out again.
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/sbf-wef-and-the-mile-of-red-yarn
Not sure if this adds anything to all of the information above but it does lay out amounts of expenditures when the money was blowing out the window:
(this is a recommended site, BTW)
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2022/11/this-is-where-bankrupt-ftxs-money-went-74-million-for-caribbean-real-estate-59-million-to-politicians-tens-of-millions-to-big-law-celebrity-endorsements/
I don’t know why this such a big surprise. They’ve been cutting our retirement plans and investments in half every 10 years since the 80s with scams and crashes. S&L’s, then the dot.bomb/dot.com era. Then mortgage equities scams. Madov (not that I lost anything there, but it was huge) was another. Also throughout, defense industries making 25 fortunes regardless of war status. Multiply that by 5 after 911. Triple Canopy, Blackwater and those guys in the mercenary business. This here with SBF and FTX is just the latest one. Stunning that it only took three years to come to criminal fruition. The other scams took a decade-plus, buying politicians for de-regulation of their industries so they could run their scam. That happened here with FTX too, in 2019-2020. Trump’s day. There’s no end to it. Eventually The Democrats will be the bigger profiteers the last year and a half but the implications that accrue to them will be minimal . There are lots of grifters out there. Especially politicians that vote on this stuff.
There’s one aspect on which I’d like to comment. That is, the private peccadillos of SBF and his merry band of bandits.
IMHO, it is irrelevant what drugs they took and what kind of sex they had. No, more than irrelevant, it is a *distraction* from considering important questions (implications for financial stability, official involvement, international intrigue, etc).
I don’t care what drugs my plumber takes as long as he/she/they aren’t stoned on the job. I don’t care what (adult, consensual) sex my accountant has as long as my tax return is not screwed up.
In recent years there seems a return to caring about/judging the private (yes, *private*) lives of public figures. IMHO, such is relevant *only* if it affects performance or shows the person to be a hypocrite, eg the family values/morals/antidrug crusader politician is found with their head in a bucket of cocaine in a brothel (reminiscent of La Cage aux Folles or The Birdcage).
What is relevant is honesty, sincerity and actions (“By their fruits ye shall know them.”) On these criteria, SBF and crew fail miserably. The other stuff is just prurient curiosity.
Is it OK if your plumber has a hangover as he hot welds your gas lines? What if you saw your plumber or electrician posting on social media about his/her ongoing alcohol or drug problems? I would hire someone else. And when people are on social media posting about their polyamorous sex lives in fancy condos in exotic locations – that is not private anymore. I wouldn’t hire someone without boundaries to work in my house or to be my banker. I don’t have enough bleach to clean up after them.
Hundreds of millions were sent to Ukr by the Biden administration for ‘humanitarian’ purposes. None of this was spent helping the people there as far as I can tell. (Sources an animal rescuer and a video Larry posted.) All humanitarian aid was coming from volunteers.
Then the FTX scandal and rumors about aid diversion back to politicians in the US. And hundreds of millions of dollars are ‘hacked’ from FTX before the unwinding team takes over.
Now, all of a sudden, Ukr announces that it will pay the way for an evacuation of the ‘liberated’ Kherson area, all humanitarian-like.
The huge politcal ‘donations’ made by SBF were just a fraction of the hundreds of millions missing here, missing there. Hopefully the money will finally provide some relief to the suffering citizens of Ukr. and the war will end soon.
“Is it OK if your plumber has a hangover as he hot welds your gas lines?”
As long as his breath isn’t overproof 🙂
Good one! That scenario came to mind because last year we had a plumber move our stinky gas water heater from the house out into the garage. Just about every dangerous code violation in the book had been done during the original work before we bought the house.
Neighbors tipped us off that the previous owners were ‘sickly’ and wore masks a lot pre-Covid. The neighbor had been doing their yard work for them. The furnace was back-drafting and that was on top of a leaky gas stove that we got fixed right after we moved in. The only thing that must have saved their lives was how leaky the house was.
All is well now after we had a sober master gas plumber re-vent and move it. He’s the one that told us to beware of the other types.
Question to Larry Johnson: As a former CIA agent, doesn’t this FTX set-up smell of an intelligence operation, masquerading as a financial business? What are the connections to the same people who backed Jeffrey Epstein? Stinks like an intelligence operation to me.
To summarize what has been discovered so far, in the bankruptcy filings:
No record of any bank accounts
No record of any cash accounts
No record of any signatories
No record of any employees
No record of any payables or receivables
No record of any investments
No record of any decision-making
No record of any board meetings
No record of anything
And, as Bryce Weiner adds, there was also no record of any chats which were set to auto-delete, so there is no record of any internal communications.
I think we will learn that British intelligence was heavily involved.
Whoever it was appears to have had a plan to takeover all asset classes in the US. They would have destroyed it all if FTX hadn’t collapsed now. Binance did us a favor by being the last straw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqG7hM4bGDk
CME Group CEO Terry Duffy responds to the FTX bankruptcy
Covid and FTX are the new way of making/cleaning money: Destroy Billions in value to make millions in “profit”.
It’s the way of barbarians, nomads and raiders for thousands of years.
In a generation or 2, the savages become old-money and the gene pool becomes just a bit dirtier.
The uncanny similarity of Ukraine and Afghanistan is in the money trail.
Back then a CIA Bank, BCCI in Geneva Switzerland, funneled $25 billion to Muhajadeen, to provoke a USSR invasion, and imploded spectacularly, controlled demolition.
Today the spectacular implosion of the Crypto-ponzi scam FTX, is BCCI on steroids :
FTX on Steroids: Is “Tether” the Biden World’s Crypto BCCI?
https://www.revolver.news/2022/11/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-on-steroids-is-cryptocurrency-tether-joe-biden-crypto-bcci/
FTX involved in Ukraine funding, laundered to DEM election finance, imploding just after the election.
That report shows the entire Crypto scam is from deeper than the Crypt.
Hey Bitcoin believers, ye have been Tethered!
Politico has an excellent article on how money in Washington affected Washington’s decision-making on how to regulate the crypto industry:
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/12/09/crypto-scandal-sam-bankman-fried-ftx-00073178