SBF Could Face 115 Years In Jail

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⭐️Today's selection:

• ⚖️SBF Could Face Up To 115 Years In Jail
• 👨‍💼FOMC Meeting
• 👌Selected Meme of The Day
• 📰Bite-Sized News

SBF COULD FACE UP TO 115 YEARS IN JAIL

SBF. Sam Bankman-Fried. Scam Bankman-Fried. Scam Bankrupt-Fraud. You name it. The wheel has come full circle.

It's starting to look as if... crime doesn't pay. But hey. Innocent until proven guilty.

So let's take a look at what is going on with the most notorious crypto personality of 2022. Even Do Kwon had to leave the spotlight when SBF decided to shine.

Before FTX crashed down this November... SBF was the #41 richest man on the Forbes 400 list. This is the list that ranks the richest Americans of the ongoing year.

Today everything has changed. Sam is facing an eight-count federal indictment. The keywords here are 'eight' and 'federal'.

If SBF will get found guilty of all of these charges, the maximum prison sentence he could receive is 115 years.

But that's not guaranteed. Maybe some of the charges will be dropped, or he'll be proven not guilty.

Nevertheless, 2022 is the year when the words 'Billionaire' and 'Jail' became possible to be found in the same biography. Feels like Monopoly.

So SBF has officially become the protagonist of the crypto Crime and Punishment.

So he got arrested. And new details about it have been revealed. Reportedly, SBF insisted on paying $250K as bail. And was refused.

He will remain in custody until February 8. Then, he will enter the second legal circle of hell.

It's estimated that SBF (or to be more precise, his company) owes money to more than 1 million individuals and organizations.

And the sums are mind-boggling. Top 50 FTX's investor are owed over $3 billion alone.

This is the gist of the federal case, which paraphrases it as SBF's attempt at duping gullible customers/investors to funnel billions into his shenanigans and business ventures.

And that's just the federal case.

Sam expected none of this. Just a few days before his arrest, when asked by a journalist whether he was certain that he was not gonna get arrested for fraud, he said:

You see, law enforcement was working in silence. They prepared all the charges, they did all the research, and connected the essential dots to attack him while he was unprepared.

In this case, 'unprepared' translates to 'not on the run'. The Department of Justice did not disclose their indictment to the public for this reason. And it worked.

And, it's guaranteed that the more this case will progress, the more details will be revealed. SBF didn't operate alone.

There are more people, more powerful people in this equation. More secret pacts, conspiracies and important figures are involved in this.

We're currently witnessing only the Season 1 of the SBF series. And every day is like a new episode with newly-unveiled spicy details about the whole mess.

For example, it has just been announced that FTX, the multi-billion dollar company, used Quickbooks for their accounting.

Quickbooks. The convenient, user-friendly, and lovely software. For individuals, for small companies. Not for companies that have CEOs named on the Forbes billionaire list.

It's like using Skype to communicate on the front line at war, or Microsoft Paint to create the concept art for the latest Marvel movie.

And of course. The legal process is not gonna be one-sided. SBF is about to have the most hardcore legal defence that money can buy.

His parents, for example, are... law professors at Stanford University. And that's just layer-1 of who's about to shield SBF from all of the upcoming troubles.

BUT THEN AGAIN. The situation is even more intense.

It's possible, that SBF is potentially involved with the most powerful, the most influential, and the most corrupt figures. And they would not like to hear him speak out.

Therefore people are raising the question - will SBF see the court process actually begin? Epstein's case comes to mind. And that's unsettling.

But who knows. Maybe things won't get that bad. And maybe his character redemption arc will be even more impressive. If there will be one.

TL;DR: Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried faces an eight-count federal indictment. This could end up in SBF receiving 115 years in prison.

FOMC MEETING

So here it is. The last FOMC meeting of 2022.

Bitcoin rose to nearly $18,000 yesterday (a 5% jump). Altcoins followed, with ETH and its 6% gains pleasing many.

All because of the optimistic November CPI results. The market received a signal - inflation is cooling down.

But things can change very suddenly. It all depends on what will central banks decide to do with interest rates.

And, when talking about central banks, the Fed is the most important one.

But even if central banks would come to the rescue and start cutting interest rates quickly, it probably would not bring the bull market.

The fact is that a fall in inflation means a slowdown in consumer spending, a cooling of demand.

This would lead to lower corporate earnings, lower investments, and so on. No fuel for the bulls.

But Fed's chair Jerome Powell still has a lot of power in his hands.

During this FOMC meeting, we will find out what has Fed decided about the interest rates and, more importantly, their outlook for 2023.

A positive scenario for BTC will play out if J. Powell mentions a rate cut next year - or better yet, additional dollar issuance or business support.

But more likely, Powell will use neutral rhetorics. It's expected to hear promises about efforts to slow down with rate hikes if inflation continues to fall.

If that is the case, being patient is what we'll have to do. The uncertainty will continue to rule the market in the nearest future.

TL;DR: Cryptocurrency rates pleasantly surprised investors yesterday. Positive CPI data was the reason. Further growth depends on today's FOMC meeting.

SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY

BITE-SIZED NEWS

• Crypto Exchange Binance US Launches Mobile Payment System "Pay". The giant learns new tricks.
• Crypto Exchange Binance Records Net Withdrawals of More than $3.6 Billion. The giant just experienced a wave of FUD.
• Thai SEC is Reportedly Planning to Strengthen Crypto Regulations. Thai crypto to get more Thaied up.