Did SBF Buy Puff-Piece Propaganda?

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:

“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

— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) November 15, 2022

Why the puff piece @nytimes?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022

Same author.https://t.co/8VRGhJOred

— Xerxes (@XerxesEmperor) November 15, 2022

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) November 12, 2022

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.”

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?

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

— Balaji (@balajis) November 16, 2022

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) November 16, 2022

😬…. Well, this is awkward. 😂🤣😂 https://t.co/Ar993pPGiK

— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) November 16, 2022

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.

Epstein provided the elites with perversion & sex. SBF gave the elites the one thing they want even more: other people’s money.

— Bruce Fenton 🇺🇸 (@brucefenton) November 16, 2022

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.”

(said no one ever)https://t.co/oCKV4VmBpH
(bid on the NFT👆) pic.twitter.com/HkftDsinRT

— Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann) November 16, 2022

The NYT drops a softball piece on SBF painting him as an aspirational dude who genuinely got in over his head

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🤔

— Chris Josephs (@Chrisjjosephs) November 15, 2022