Yes it was someone else’s money, but remember the saying that, “possession is nine tenths of the law.”

The books and accounts are massively fucked. It’ll take a team of forensic accountants, skip tracers and cyber security experts, years to try and figure out what happened to it all. Then there was the almost “Epstien” level “hack” that “stole” over half a billion dollars on the same day FTX filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Whoever stole it has already started to launder the bulk of the funds.

Now comes the Bahamian regulators. Anyone of them whose unscrupulous (or 2 or 3+) will have plenty of opportunities to make a million or two, that no one else knows about, go missing in the madness. And with enough money, even if they got caught, they could just flee the country. Next is where sweetheart deals and crony capitalism take place, the liquidation. As part of the bankruptcy proceeding, millions of dollars in physical assets and real estate will need to be sold off to pay creditors. I’m sure the bankruptcy regulators in charge of that process are foaming at the mouth, waiting to make deals for board seats on other companies, no show jobs for friends/family and just straight up thick envelopes.

And then with whatever’s left, there’s a massive process that has to be followed with how the funds are distributed. FTX owed billions to many creditors, wealthy investors and large institutions.

>FTX's creditors will be first in line to receive whatever assets a bankruptcy judge deems appropriate to distribute as the company seeks to restructure as part of its Chapter 11 filing. Investors in the Bahamas-based company, which had raised some $2 billion in venture capital, will be second in line. That leaves FTX account holders who used the platform to trade bitcoin, solana and other digital currencies at the back of the queue, a bankruptcy expert told CBS MoneyWatch.

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/ftx-bankruptcy-funds-returned-sam-bankman-fried/

If customers get any funds back it’ll be a years long process. I’ve heard estimates anywhere from 3 to 12% could be returned and many other people are saying it will probably be nothing at all.

Throughout all of this, Sam will just plead poverty, but I would bet good money on that not being true. I’m sure he has money stashed all over the world: Real estate, companies, art (in Freeports), safety deposit boxes stuffed with cash and jewels, numbered bank accounts, etc. Some of it in his own name (to bargain with the investigation as “restitution” for leniency), some of it in aliases, and some of it in the name of friends/family. By organizing his funds that way, no one but him would really know how much money he has access to.

He’ll pay for the best lawyers money can buy, get a short of a sentence at Club Fed as possible, and then get out of prison as a middle aged very wealthy man. While in prison, his wealth will allow him to pay for protection and to bribe cards to bring in whatever he wants. Drugs, women, computers, phones, Swiss chocolate, etc. And while in white collar prison, he will no doubt make connections that will later help him to re-integrate his ill-gotten gains back into the legitimate financial system once he’s released.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/30/ftx-billionaire-sam-bankman-fried-dark-money-republicans

Now take that with a grain of salt, Sam isn't the most reliable witness north of Antarctica...

But given what FTX was trying to do- appear as the squeaky clean us-based exchange- it wouldn't make sense for him to only pay off one side, when the US political pendulum swings every couple of years.

Plus Sam gets to make digs at traditional campaign financing and get to sounds like a genius.