Mogul-from-a-past-life Sam Bankman-Fried last week gave an unsanctioned prison interview in which he largely glossed over his hand in the financial crimes he was convicted of. Bankman-Fried, sentenced to 25 years for illegal activities that cratered crypto exchange FTX in November 2022, instead used the opportunity to launch his very own early-release public relations campaign.
SBF started by acknowledging that he had made well-documented contributions to Democrats in the past. Less documented, SBF informed interviewer Tucker Carlson, was the fact that he had begun to privately redirect his political contributions towards Republicans not long before the fall of FTX. SBF then hinted that this migrating alliance resulted in an unfair and retributive trial against him by Biden’s Justice Department.
Pushing this narrative to Carlson was both desperate and savvy. Bankman-Fried is no doubt aware that President Trump has been waving his pardon wand like a rhythmic gymnastic routine since taking office three months ago. After 12 years of incarceration, Ross Ulbricht of Silk Road fame was pardoned and released during Trump’s first week in office, while the three co-founders of BitMEX were pardoned just days ago for less serious crimes. Wouldn’t it be reasonable for SBF to reach for that same absolution?
This editorial is not an assessment of the fairness of the pardons. Indeed, the allegations and evidence against the aforementioned parties vary considerably from one person to the next. Perhaps a reasonable case could be made in some instances that an individual was overprosecuted, or politically targeted, and that a pardon is therefore a necessary correction. We offer no final analysis at this time. What is being submitted is simply a recognition of a plain truth: with a new regime comes a new set of opinions and biases, with ensuing justice carried out accordingly.
The climate for big crypto players has changed considerably in the United States. Could this new spirit of entrepreneurial lenience spill over to Korea, which has its own notorious share of crypto scandals and political persecutions? It’s hard to say, but one thing is for sure. Crime and punishment are fairly stable concepts—at least until the next guy comes along.
