Bankman-Fried's Shrinking ‘$250M Bond’
I want to contrast SBF&#x27;s treatment at the hands of the government to that of Carl Nelson. This is a name you probably don&#x27;t know but let me summarize [1].<p>Nelson was an Amazon employee who worked on securing real estate deals for data centers. Based on an anonymous email sent to Jeff Bezos that Nelson was getting kickbacks on these deals where Amazon was being charged exorbitant leasing fees.<p>In 2020, the FBI showed up and seized (through civil forfeiture) the bank accounts and assets of Nelson, his wife, several associates and <i>even his lawyers</i>. What prompted this? It came to light later that Amazon&#x27;s lawyers from a law firm named Gibson Dunn (who have been at the center of many controversies)met with the Department of Justice <i>hundreds</i> of times to get this outcome.<p>It turns out that the only way Amazon could get out of a bad deal was for someone to be charged with a felony. The one alleged here was deprivation of &quot;honest services&quot;. It was on this basis the the FBI seized Nelson&#x27;s assets. In doing so, Amazon falsely claimed they&#x27;d paid $16.5 million they had not paid.<p>After nearly 2 years and no charges being filed, the government returned a <i>portion</i> of the seized funds. It is alleged that Amazon made false represetnations (an actual crime) to the government and these formed the basis for the warrant to seize these assets. That warrant remains under seal. It&#x27;s also alleged that Amazon lied about the leases they signed.<p>So, no charges filed (let alone a conviction) and all these assets seized under civil asset forfeiture, a regime that I personally think should be deemed unconstitutional as a clear Fourth Amendment violation. But alas, it remains the law of the land.<p>SBF has cleared stolen customer assets as CEO of FTX. Why exactly is the government not seizing every asset he owns, his parents own and his FTX associates own as here there is actually a good case that they are the proceeds of a crime?<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;newsletters&#x2F;2021-03-15&#x2F;the-strange-saga-of-amazon-s-virginia-real-estate-deals" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;newsletters&#x2F;2021-03-15&#x2F;the-st...</a>