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Notes -
With crypto, there are certainly gray areas where the customer knows the company is taking risks, knows the assets are risky, but is not fully aware of just how much risk the company is taking, and the company is happy to keep the customer unaware by burying the risks in the fine print.
But this is not the case of FTX. FTX is just run-of-the-mill embezzlement.
FTX said in its terms of service that customer deposits were the property of the customer, were fully controlled by the customer, were not the assets of FTX, and would not be loaned out. FTX was acting as a custodian. Instead, FTX took the customer funds and gambled with them. This is analogous to a bank manager who is dealing with too many failing loans and so drills into people's safe deposit boxes, takes the money and gambles it at a casino. He cannot do that, that is theft, he needs accept bankruptcy, let the those who lent and invested in the bank to take losses, but allow everyone who trusted the bank as a custodian to pick up their own assets from their safe deposit boxes.. It seems like FTX also took the funds and sent them to SBF's other business (Alambeda), which is even more obvious and blatant theft. This is classic, go-directly-to-jail do not pass go crime.
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