As FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried faces extradition to the USA following his fund's commingled asset implosion, one might be a bit confused about the gravity of the situation given recent press coverage.
For example, the NY Times on Monday published a cowering puff-piece which mentioned exactly none of the major accusations against the well-connected Democrat mega-donor.
Word count NYT's puff piece on SBF:
— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan)
"Fraud": 0
"Enron": 0
"Crime": 0
"Illiquid": 0
"Stolen": 0
"Hidden": 0
"Criminal": 0
"Back door": 0
"He's getting sleep": 1 pic.twitter.com/htbte8IyPI
Why the puff piece @nytimes?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
Same author.https://t.co/8VRGhJOred
— Xerxes (@XerxesEmperor)
Months before his firm imploded, Vox penned a slobbering review of SBF's "Effective Altruism" program, painting him as a benevolent crime-fighter in his efforts to help ensure Joe Biden won the 2020 US election.
But his motivations aren’t those of an ordinary Democratic donor — Bankman-Fried told Goldstein that fighting Trump was less about promoting Democrats than ensuring “sane governance” in the US, which could have “massive, massive, ripple effects on what the future looks like.” -Vox
Another slam dunk splainer by Vox. https://t.co/tM4D6JyWAt
— zerohedge (@zerohedge)
Fast forward to Tuesday, when Vox proclaimed that SBF's support of Democratic candidates to the tune of $40 million, second only to George Soros, is "massively overstated" and essentially no big deal.
And what do we have here? SBF gave millions to corporate media outlets according to Tablet, and noted by @balajis, who suggests that it may have been done with "stolen customer funds."
Over the past two years, Bankman-Fried cultivated the media lavishly, if not carefully. Drawing on what then seemed like an unlimited pool of cash, SBF (as we’ll call the mythologized version of the real person) dispersed investments, advertising dollars, sponsorships, and donations to key news outlets—including ProPublica, Vox, Semafor, and The Intercept—with extraordinary effectiveness. -Tablet
And while some of said outlets (Semafor, and The Intercept for example) covered FTX without obvious bias, recent pieces from Vox suggest the investment has paid off in spades.
SUE JOURNOS, EARN CRYPTO?
— Balaji (@balajis)
SBF gave millions to media corporations like Vox. We don’t know exactly when his theft of customer funds started, but there is a $10B hole. There’s also a multi-year lookback for “fraudulent conveyance”.
So, these corporations may be pursued. pic.twitter.com/Aj4erB7b1w
On Wednesday, Vox must have realized how dumb they looked - leading to Vox's Dylan Matthews (who oddly took the "Vox" reference out of his Twitter bio earlier today) dumping what appears to be incriminating texts with another Vox journo.
If you're someone who bites the bullet on St. Petersburg paradoxes it turns out you're eager to lose a lot of money on the roulette table! pic.twitter.com/H3sYWs0djL
— dylan matthews (@dylanmatt)
.... Well, this is awkward. https://t.co/Ar993pPGiK
— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2)
An interesting analogy...
SBF is the Jeffrey Epstein of retail: a protected, connected darling of the Washington DC halls of power, the media, academia and the establishment.
— Bruce Fenton (@brucefenton)
Epstein provided the elites with perversion & sex. SBF gave the elites the one thing they want even more: other people’s money.
And while the NY Times wasn't on the list of outlets that received money, perhaps SBF's deep-rooted establishment connections have something to do with it.
"Man, this whole FTX fiasco really needs its own theme song."
— Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann)
(said no one ever)https://t.co/oCKV4VmBpH
(bid on the NFT ) pic.twitter.com/HkftDsinRT
The NYT drops a softball piece on SBF painting him as an aspirational dude who genuinely got in over his head
— Chris Josephs (@Chrisjjosephs)
While writing hit pieces on the CEO's of Coinbase & Kraken, two who actually protected their clients' assets
Turns out FTX donated $70M to Politicians in 2022