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Comment by Ajay-p | Hacker News Reader

I never had any doubt but did anyone have doubt? Michael Lewis's book Going Infinite portrayed SBF (to me at least) as a hapless kid caught up in something he did not understand. Lewis is the only person I have read that seemed to defend SBF. Was he the only one?

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Everyone referring to Bankman-Fried as a kid or child or whatever was defending him (or, more likely, defending their own interest in keeping the crypto grift going). And there were a lot of articles being published pushing that angle.

He was 27 when he started FTX.

27 is only 14 in white collar criminal years.

That did come up at the trial - his was a manicured image to accomplish just that.

"Look at that on-the-spectrum mathy kid! Cargo shorts, goofy hair... he doesn't even understand things like social decorum!" all while he was deliberately social engineering his way into the elitest social strata.

I think it's more likely they were defending SBF due to shared ancestry rather than a shared interest in crypto.

I am very invested in "keeping the crypto grift going" and hope he dies in prison.

Of his actual guilt? No. But there's a very real question about whether or not he'd actually be convicted. The justice system isn't really known for fairness.

rich people need to work on their Teflon to some degree but usually they're smart enough to hire lawyers before they break the law

In this case I think Mr. Bankman-Fried did more to talk himself into a conviction than anything he did. I read that reporters in the overflow room laughed aloud at his answers, which made me feel there was an eagerness on some to convict him. I cannot help but think of Martin Shkrelli and how similar he is to SBF in their attitudes.

I don’t like this take and I don’t think it’s true. He is 31 and well into adulthood. He was a trader who at Jane street. He is far from hapless or confused. In comparison Zuckerberg was a billionaire by 23 I think?

I just don’t like it perpetuated that he is some confused teen.

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