John Wang on Warpcast

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I attended the SBF trial. It was one of the most mind-blowing experiences of my life. Seeing him get a 25 year sentence today is as surreal as it felt sitting right behind him in that courtroom. Here’s my story of that day:

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On Crypto Twitter, SBF was a larger than life character. I first texted him as a freshman Research Assistant in 2020 when FTX was getting started. He inspired me to join the Solana ecosystem in early 2021. Soon, Sam was the youngest billionaire in the world.

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But sitting in the front row, all I saw before me was a meek, clenched, pale man -- smaller in stature than I expected. We briefly made eye contact before his eyes darted away and he lowered his head.

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John Wang pfp

But sitting in the front row, all I saw before me was a meek, clenched, pale man -- smaller in stature than I expected. We briefly made eye contact before his eyes darted away and he lowered his head.

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They only let 20 people in so I arrived at 4 a.m in the dark. The only other person before me was the NYT reporter who’d been rumored as the mouthpiece for SBF’s parents leaking facts. He was also the only journalist I saw talk to the parents.

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The Trump case was happening simultaneously in the neighboring building. There were Secret Service agents, steel fencing, and black vans crawling the area at the crack of dawn. I waited 5 hours in the winter cold of NYC Financial District.

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The courtroom was much smaller than I imagined. I exchanged ‘hellos’ with his parents who sat on the bench next to me. Film writers, sketch artists, and journalists eyed SBF like a zoo animal. Everyone stood as the judge walked in.

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His lawyer pleaded the judge for adderall to stop SBF from shaking. The judge replied “I can’t be having lawyers coming in and feeding drugs to people on trial”, stirring up laughter among the journalists and furious head-shaking from SBF’s mom.

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Today a huge witness testified: Nishad Singh, 3rd largest FTX shareholder and Director of Eng. He had signed a plea bargain with the FBI. He blinked tears as he got on the stand. “I participated in money laundering, defrauded customers and doctored financials to investors”.

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“I’ve always been intimidated by Sam… [He] has physical twitches when he gets angry, grinding his fingers, closing his eyes, and grinding his teeth or tongue in his mouth… I was suicidal” SBF's parents squinted their eyes, pursed their lips, and coughed in protest.

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The jury looked like NPCs randomly picked off the street. No-one looked younger than 40, half were obese, and some didn’t even bring a notepad. Lawyers had to explain every single crypto term. “When I was your age, mining was about getting rocks”, smirked the judge.

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It was insane to see the face that once covered magazine front-pages and billboards in Times Square reduced to the butt of a joke. Outside the floor-to-ceiling window was a bright blue sky dotted with soft clouds. The contrast was sickening.

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Jurors' heads turned back and forth between prosecution and witness like a tennis match, for 8 hours. I peeked at SBF’s mom’s notepad to see her notes but she was just doodling (lol).

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The prosecution leaked SBF’s diary entry recounting a post-Superbowl party with Hillary Clinton/Kendall Jenner/Katy Perry/Dicaprio/Bezos. $1B in sponsorships (e.g. Steph Curry, Kevin O’Leary, and Tom Brady). The $30m Bahamas penthouse. Jurors chuckled at the opulence.

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Going in that day, I hoped to give SBF some benefit of the doubt -- attributing negligence over malice. That faded quickly. Why? • SBF had singular control over the mixing of funds. He was the only executive with vested interests in both.

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Russ pfp

What a good read. 25yrs even with my lost funds seems harsh. Money V prison. I'd take poor

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