Listen to the Article: FTX Timeline PT.2 - How Come the Disgraced "SBF" Pleaded "Not Guilty" Against All Charges?

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An unprecedented liquidity crunch in November 2022 led to the quick death of FTX, a once industry-honey, in a mere span of ten days. On November 11, Fazzaco published an insightful timeline article on the FTX implosion​. Now that two more months have gone by, are there any stories worth knowing regarding FTX's bankruptcy proceedings? What about Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF)? Has the judge passed a sentence on him yet? Follow us, as Fazzaco unveils the Part 2 of FTX Timeline.

​Timeline Pt.2 (Til January 9, 2023)

November 11, 2022

SBF stepped down by resigning as FTX CEO; the troubled crypto exchange initiated voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings​; John J. Ray III was the court-appointed FTX CEO to replace SBF. John Ray III is an American attorney who specializes in recovering funds from failed corporations.

November 18, 2022

The Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB), the financial market regulator of the Bahamas, ordered the cryptocurrency exchange FTX to transfer its digital assets to government-controlled wallets for "safekeeping"​.

December 12, 2022

Bahamian Attorney-General Ryan Pinder announced that the country's police force arrested SBF, the founder of FTX​, after receiving criminal accusations filed by US authorities.

December 18, 2022

Jerone Roberts, the attorney representing SBF in the Bahamas, confirmed that his client "has agreed to be voluntarily extradited to the United States​", where federal prosecutors have indicted him on eight counts of fraud and money laundering.

December 21, 2022

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed fraud charges against Caroline Ellison, Alameda CEO, and Gary Wang, Alameda and FTX Co-Founder​, for their roles in a multiyear scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX.

December 22, 2022

Following a court hearing, a federal judge decided to release SBF from custody after his attorneys and federal prosecutors agreed to a $250 million bond, the largest in history. SBF will live with his parents in Palo Alto, California, and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.

January 3, 2023

SBF pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges in a federal court in the Southern District of New York. He was then set to face trial on eight charges on Oct. 2.

January 9, 2023

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) seized $465 million in shares of the stock-trading app Robinhood that are partially owned by SBF, who wanted access to the stock to help pay his legal fees.

Extradition to US, Assets Seized, Largest Bond in History, Pleading Not Guilty - What the Hell is SBF Thinking?

SBF remained silent ever since his extradition to the United States. On December 22, a magistrate court of New York granted a bail of up to $250 million for him. It was one of the largest pretrial bails in U.S. history, according Nicholas Roos, a federal attorney.

On January 3, SBF appeared in front the public to attend a hearing scheduled for 2 p.m in SDNY. Prior to the hearing, he was charged with a total of eight counts by New York prosecutors. During the hearing, SBF defended himself and pleaded not guilty, just as expected, and denied all charges related to the FTX-Alameda fraud. After all, he'd be facing up to 115 years in prison if convicted. Then, he was released on a 10-month bail, and the trial is scheduled for October 2.

It is widely believed that SBF did not plead guilty because he hoped that the court would make some changes to the plea agreement, reaching somewhere like a compromised middle ground. Or perhaps he did so because he is still hopeful that confidence might be somewhat restored among those who still have a little bit faith in him, so maybe there is a chance to convince the jury to stand by his side.

Now, we couldn't help but ask: What the hell is he thinking? Does he literally believe that he could overturn the case?

If this is what SBF actually has up his sleeve, well, maybe his head is indeed Fried as his last name suggests. SBF has almost zero possibility to get away with it, because Caroline, the CEO of Alameda, and his FTX partner Gary, have all pleaded guilty. Particularly, Caroline agreed to plead guilty to seven offenses, which include charges of wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering, talk about how cruel your ex-girlfriend could be. Even John Ray III, the one who took over the FTX mess, said that "this is really just old fashioned embezzlement. This is just taking money from customers and using it for your own purpose. Not sophisticated at all."

So, the October trial is almost impossible to turn the tides for SBF, if not passing more years on him (which, probably won't make that much of a difference, unless he manages to outlive the first 115-year sentence). Because according to the US judicial system, it matters a lot for the final sentencing if a suspect pleads guilty at the very beginning. But what SBF was doing is simply bizarre, especially what he did was already in public plain sight.

SBF Not Pleading Guilty Because of His Connections in DC?

In the article "The Untold Truth behind FTX's Bankruptcy: A Peek into the Crypto Chaos​", Fazzaco brought up that FTX had been making political donations to the Democrats, suggesting that SBF once planned to join hands with the Democratic Party to crack down Binance, their competitor.

Therefore, some also pointed out that the reason why SBF dared not admit guilt this time was because he had made a large amount of political donations, so he may be waiting for something like the final scene in the movie Lord of War to happen, when the arms dealer played by Nicolas Cage, was arrested and rescued by some high-level government official because the government was complicit with him.

Of course, we don't believe that such drama will happen in real life. Reason? Well what SBF faced are charges from a federal level, and constitutionally speaking, he could only be absolved of his federal crimes by an amnesty granted by the POTUS (like President Ford's pardon of President Nixon). But for SBF, I don't think Biden is gonna do him this favor.

Conclusion

As a once successful millennial who made a fortune with cryptocurrencies, the 1992-born SBF doesn't seem like someone with a healthy and sound personality. It is very likely that after causing such a trust crisis across the entire crypto community, he has to spend the rest of his life behind bars to repent of what he has done. As for the broader consequences of the FTX fiasco for the cryptocurrency industry will take time to unfold.