The Rats Turn on Each Other

FTX co-founder Gary Wang and Alameda research CEO Caroline Ellison, have pled guilty and will be cooperating with prosecutors.

One would think that as deep a student of philosophy as Sam Bankman-Fried would understand the concept of the Prisoner's Dilemma:

FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former Alameda Research co-CEO Caroline Ellison have both pleaded guilty to federal charges, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, said Wednesday.

Wang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Ellison pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The charges were released the same night that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was en route from the Bahamas to New York, where he faces eight federal criminal charges from the same prosecutors who accepted plea deals from Ellison and Wang. The duo's plea agreements were signed Monday, the day Bankman-Fried was originally supposed to return to the U.S. before a court hearing in the Bahamas devolved into chaos.

SBF is now in the United States, free on $250,000,000.00 bond. (This is not decimal place error.)

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former cryptocurrency executive, was granted release from federal custody in a Manhattan court on Thursday under highly restrictive bail conditions, including a $250 million bond secured by his parents’ interest in their California home and a requirement that he remain in home detention with them.

………

Mr. Bankman-Fried, 30, appeared in federal court just hours after his extradition from the Bahamas, where he was arrested at a luxury apartment complex on Dec. 12. FTX, the exchange that Mr. Bankman-Fried founded, was based in the Caribbean nation.

One hopes that there will be dozens of people who will end up serving decades incarcerated.  It's the only thing that will deter future wrongdoing.