“Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty of seven counts of
fraud in stunning fall for former crypto billionaire” – CNN
Hitting the headlines all over the world lately, the banner
story above tells of one of the biggest financial frauds perpetrated in
American history. Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the “Crypto King,” was found guilty
of stealing billions of dollars from accounts belonging to customers of his
once-high-flying crypto exchange FTX.
Looking back, SBF, once known as cryptocurrency’s whiz
kid, became a financier, established cryptocurrency companies that made
billions and backed Effective Altruism (EA) – a movement that seeks to persuade
people to donate a large share of their income to charity. For having donated millions,
SBF became the EA poster boy.
“By making as much money as we can and donating to the
best causes, we can each save hundreds of lives,” argues William MacAskill, an
Oxford philosopher and one of the EA founders.
The serendipitous mix of SBF’s driving force to “make money and give it away,” the spiritual nuance of “fall” in the above headline, and the precognition of the top prosecutor’s words -- “The crypto industry might be new. But this kind of corruption is as old as time” -- speaks volumes and gives an inkling to the old-fashioned dilemma of the fallen nature of man flashing back to the time of Jesus Christ.
TWO MASTERS
At this point, let’s take a spiritual trip, briefly, down the hallowed
memory lane. Jesus said:
“No one can serve two masters at the same time. Either
you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Mt. 7:24)
Inspired by EA, SBF claimed that he wanted to make
money – billions or maybe even trillions – so that he could do the most good
possible – give it all away to the poor. He planned to keep only one percent of
his wealth, he told Bloomberg, eventually giving the rest away to worthy
causes.
Such a motivation is a two-stage course of action. The
first stage is to make money. The second stage is to do good. Cool idea.
Drawn on such a motivation, wittingly or unwittingly, SBF
put in place two masters. Money, in the first stage; God-inspired Goodness, in
the second stage.
In the first stage, all in good time, according to court
filings reported by The Byte, SBF used FTX money to support an incredibly
lavish lifestyle for himself and those in his inner circle. He basked in the
sunshine of a $35 million penthouse in the Bahamas, spending upwards of $40
million on ultra-luxurious living arrangements, food, and hotels in just nine
months alone -- while stealing $13 billion in customer funds to buy real estate
and hobnobbing with A-list celebrities like the Clintons, Katy Perry, Orlando
Bloom, Jeff Bezos, among others.
However, on the road to the second stage, an ugly head
popped up. Nishad Singh, FTX’s former director of engineering and SBF’s onetime
roommate, having figured out the $13 billion “hole” in FTX finances – customers
deposits SBF used up – he testified:
“I was blindsided and horrified; I felt really
betrayed. Something I thought was a beautiful force for good has turned out to
be so evil.”
Accumulating so much wealth, SBF stuck around the
first stage, putting on the pedestal his Money master. He ultimately lost track
of his journey to the second stage, along with shrugging off the God-inspired Goodness
master (as the Bible passage forewarns, deep in SBF’s heart, he could have hated or despised such a master in the thick of his accumulated wealth) to do good to poor
people. In less than no time, SBF fell from grace and flat on his face, as he came
to grips with the court judgment.
It flashes us back to the time of Jesus.
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany
where he had raised Lazarus, the dead man, to life. Now they gave a dinner for Jesus
and while Martha waited on them, Lazarus sat at the table with him.
Then Mary took a pound of costly perfume from genuine
nard and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. And the whole
house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Judas, son of Simon Iscariot – the disciple who was to
betray Jesus – remarked:
“This perfume could have been sold for three hundred
silver coins and turned over to the poor.”
Judas, indeed, had no concern for the poor; he was a thief and as he held the common purse, he used to help himself to the funds. (Jn. 12:1-6)
TWO PEAS IN A POD
From all appearances, Judas and SBF are two peas in a
pod. In the same manner, the calculus of Judas words measures up to the credo
of Peter Singer, an atheist philosopher, whose ideas lie at the heart of EA, as
he argues:
“Effective altruists are sensitive to numbers and to
cost per life saved or year of suffering prevented.”
What’s more, Singer has argued that, from a strictly
consequentialist perspective, it is plausible that “at least some of the guards
at Auschwitz were not acting wrongly” because they might have been replaced “by
someone else… who would have been even more brutal.”
Kenan Malik of The Guardian countered that not only
does Singer’s logic defy our moral intuitions, but it can also be applied to
justify almost any action, including SBF’s fraud. Any EA adherent may stand up
for SBF's scamming of the investors, for at least, he gave more money to charity than
another scammer might have done. The point: There is more to morality than
numbers adding up, and that concepts such as dignity or intrinsic worth may be
as important as consequences.
WALK THE TALK
To be fair, EA in its Philippines’ Vision and Mission sounds
respectable.
“Our vision is to create a thriving community of
Filipinos who use evidence, reason, and compassion to maximize their social
impact with their careers and resources.
Our mission is to provide high-quality resources and discussion
spaces for Filipino students and professionals to learn about and practice the
principles of effective altruism.
We aim to help more Filipinos learn about the
importance of maximizing their social impact, which causes could be most
important for them to work on, and what they can do with their careers or
donations to make an impact on these causes.”
Amid its poster boy’s fall from grace, EA’s port in a
storm, badly damaged, may be embedded in the wisdom of this Sunday’s Gospel:
“Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.” (Mt. 23:3-4)
Head photo collage courtesy of CBC, VOI, & deposit
photos
Video clips courtesy of YouTube
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