How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Sentence Compares With Other White-Collar Cases
What follows is a lesson about when “hubris” & “arrogance” (kissing cousins) meet reality! In a “wry” sort of way, they are defined from their Greek origin as excessive pride, ie: “extreme self-belief in one’s abilities and how they are better people than others. Accordingly, It violates the bounds set for humans and is always punished by the gods!”
As individuals, we have now most likely all heard and read about the individuals described in the article below. They were also highly intelligent, a potentially lethal formula. When combined with the hubris & arrogance above, it can explain why someone can get away with bad actions for a shockingly long time versus others who get nailed right away. But rest assured! Even if we may not personally observe it, they will be revealed and dealt with accordingly as well.
The shame is that nowhere in their early life were they effectively taught the physics and underlying truth of “The Law of Cause & Effect!” Or for that matter, the words we all say when pointing to someone Else’s downfall, “What Goes Around Comes Around.”
It is the very reason why the book referenced here with that title was written! Please order one for yourself from Amazon.
 | Try Audible free for 30 days! Start listening to best-selling audiobooks, exclusive Originals, and free podcasts with the Audible app. |
Here’s how the former crypto mogul’s 25-year sentence stacks up against the prosecutions of Michael Milken, Bernie Madoff, and others.
Find Rob’s book & ebook “What Goes Around Comes Around – A Guide To How Life REALLY Works” at Amazon or Audible
Kirkus Reviews says:
A stable, nonpreachy, objective voice makes the book stand apart from others in the genre. A successful guide that uses anecdotes of real human experiences to reveal powerful truths about life.
How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Sentence Compares With Other White-Collar Cases
Here’s how the former crypto mogul’s 25-year sentence stacks up against the prosecutions of Michael Milken, Bernie Madoff and others.
David Yaffe-Bellany covers the cryptocurrency industry.
Two years in prison for tax and securities violations. Eleven years for deceiving investors. A 150-year sentence for the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
The country’s most notorious white-collar fraudsters — like Bernie Madoff and Elizabeth Holmes — have received a range of punishments for their crimes, from relatively short prison terms to effectively a life sentence.
On Thursday, Sam Bankman-Fried, the one-time cryptocurrency mogul, joined their ranks, receiving a 25-year sentence for fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
Mr. Bankman-Fried was convicted of stealing $8 billion from customers of his international crypto exchange, FTX — charges that carry a maximum sentence of 110 years. In legal filings, prosecutors cited 13 examples of white-collar prosecutions that involved a loss of more than $100 million. In all but two of those cases, the defendant was sentenced to 40 years or more.
Here’s how Mr. Bankman-Fried’s sentence compares with penalties faced by other high-profile white-collar criminals.
Michael Milken
Mr. Milken, once known as the “junk bond king” of Wall Street, was sentenced to 10 years in 1990 for securities fraud, tax fraud and other crimes. He ultimately served only two years, a reward for his cooperation with the authorities. After his release, Mr. Milken started a philanthropic career, raising money for cancer research and other causes.
“Milken’s two-year sentence gave him a second chance,” Mr. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers wrote in a recent court filing. “Given the same chance, Sam would dedicate his post-prison life to charitable works, finding the best ways to help others.”
Jeffrey Skilling
Mr. Skilling, the former chief executive of Enron, was initially sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2006 for his role in the energy giant’s collapse, but that punishment was reduced after an appeal. He eventually spent 12 years in prison.
Bernard Madoff
Mr. Madoff, a Wall Street financier, orchestrated what is regarded as the largest Ponzi scheme in history and was sentenced to 150 years in prison in 2009. He was in his 70s at the time of the sentencing and died in prison 12 years later.
In a court filing, Mr. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers sought to differentiate the FTX case from Mr. Madoff’s fraud.
Mr. Madoff’s customers were “a tight network of families and pension funds that believed they were investing in a conservative vehicle,” the lawyers wrote. “The crypto investor/trader has a very different risk profile.”
Elizabeth Holmes
Ms. Holmes, the founder of the blood-testing start-up Theranos, was sentenced in 2022 to slightly more than 11 years in prison for deceiving investors in her company. Ms. Holmes reported to prison in May, a few months after her 39th birthday.
In a sentencing filing, Mr. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers pointed to “parallels” between him and Ms. Holmes, including their relative youth. But Ms. Holmes “is actually far more culpable,” the lawyers wrote. “She put patients at risk.”
Kirkus Reviews, the gold-standard for independent & accurate reviews, has this to say about
What Goes Around Comes Around:
A successful guide that uses anecdotes to reveal powerful truths about life.
The stable, positive, non-preachy and objective voice makes the book stand apart from others in the genre.
~ Kirkus Reviews
“I’ve read a number of books that focus on sharing a similar message, including “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, “The Answer” by John Assaraf & Murray Smith, “The Celestine Prophecy” by James Redfield, “Think and Grow Rich,” by Napoleon Hill, and I must say that I find Rob’s to be my favorite.” – Sheryl Woodhouse, founder of Livelihood Matters LLC
How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Sentence Compares With Other White-Collar Cases
How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Sentence Compares With Other White-Collar Cases
New research shows small gestures matter even more than we may think.
I wonder about when this train actually went off the rail and Balwani and Holmes both knew it. It reminds me somewhat of Bernie Madoff’s $20 Billion deception in that if Bernie had fessed up when his performance first went south and he tried to cover it up, only to make it worse, he might largely have been forgiven and returned to his original trading business. But he just couldn’t do that and as time went on…well we know the result.
Was there a similar trajectory for this pair? A time when they looked at each other and said, “Uh oh!” Not that it matters really. Somewhere along the way they knew what was going down and kept it going for as long as they could. Now have to face the music as eventually, always is the case. It is simply “The Law of Cause and Effect” unfolding. Hopefully for them there will be less tragic endings than Bernie. It depends on how they handle what they have wrought! We’ll see.