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SBF Prison Experiment: Despite having his appeal rejected and little hope of a pardon, he maintains his innocence and seeks release.

According to a report by Mars Finance on June 17th, citing an in-depth report by New York magazine, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is currently detained in Lompok Federal Prison in California. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024 for fraud and conspiracy. On June 12th, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his formal appeal, further reducing his legal recourse. That same month, SBF formally filed for a presidential pardon. According to Polymarket data, his chances of being pardoned before 2027 are approximately 14%. Regarding his release, SBF's parents have hired two Republican lobbyists to lobbied the Trump administration, and his mother, Barbara Fried, continues to post on Substack advocating for his innocence. Anonymous websites and multiple X accounts are also campaigning for him. However, Trump made it clear earlier this year that he "has no plans" to pardon SBF, and prominent Republican senator Cynthia Ramis, a staunch supporter of crypto, also publicly opposed the move, making SBF's political future uncertain. In contrast, CZ, also convicted of money laundering, received a pardon from Trump, partly because his trading platform supported the Trump family's crypto project, World Liberty Financial. While in prison, SBF maintained a prolific writing and legal activity: serializing his prison memoir, *Manfred*, writing the "Where Did the Money Go?" document to prove FTX's solvency at the time, and independently filing a motion for a new trial (which was rejected). He maintained that the approximately $8 billion in customer losses stemmed from unintentional accounting errors rather than deliberate fraud, and pointed out that FTX's bankruptcy proceedings have so far repaid victims over $10 billion. Simultaneously, he actively courted Trump, using his father to operate the X account to publish pro-Republican content and giving an interview to Tucker Carlson, for which he was temporarily placed in solitary confinement. In prison, SBF lost about 30 pounds, maintained a strict vegan diet, played approximately 6,000 games of pixelated dungeon crawler daily, taught chess, was obsessed with pickleball, and refused to join any racial "caravan," choosing instead to remain independent. According to former inmates, he helped several inmates prepare legal documents, was well-liked among them, and was hailed as a "counterintuitively peaceful person." SBF's greatest fear was not the long prison sentence, but rather that his brain would be "trained into neurons that only search for Oreos" during his long incarceration—that is, losing the ability to think about and influence the outside world.
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07-04 12:03

Trump pardoned 11 people, none of whom were on the SBF list; his remarks at today's celebration became the focus.

According to Mars Finance, on July 4th, US President Trump signed a pardon order the day before Independence Day (July 3rd local time), pardoning 11 people, including several convicted of violating the Clean Air Act. Trump called these people "victims of persecution by the Biden administration," imprisoned or facing imprisonment for repairing their own cars, saying, "I'm going to set them all free now." Notably, SBF, the founder of FTX and one of the most watched potential pardon recipients in the crypto space, has not yet been included in the announced pardon list. Today (July 4th) marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, and Trump will be attending events in multiple locations. The White House had previously discussed a large-scale pardon of 250 people as part of the celebrations. However, these are still under consideration and have not been officially announced. The market is paying close attention to Trump's statements today. The pardon competition under the Trump administration has significantly escalated, with the president exercising unprecedented personal control over the pardon process, frequently using the pardon power to support allies and advance his own political agenda. Pardons are handled by a small team consisting of White House Special Counsel David Warrington, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and U.S. Pardons Attorney Ed Martin. Most cases are initially reviewed by Warrington and Martin in coordination with the Department of Justice. The shortlisted candidates are then submitted to Wiles for review, and Warrington and Wiles then submit the final selection to Trump for decision.

06-30 18:58

Hollywood director Carl Rinsch was sentenced to 30 months in prison for embezzling $11 million from his TV series budget to speculate in stocks, cryptocurrency, and luxury goods.

PANews reported on June 30th that, according to The Block, the U.S. Department of Justice stated that Carl Erik Rinsch, director of "47 Ronin," was sentenced to 30 months in prison for falsely claiming to a streaming platform that he needed an additional $11 million to complete the filming of the sci-fi series "White Horse," and actually transferring the funds to his personal account for stock option trading, cryptocurrency speculation, and luxury spending. Netflix had already paid him approximately $44 million between 2018 and 2019, and subsequently added $11 million.

07-06 23:19

A US judge rejected Musk's request to overturn a ruling against Twitter investors, and some allegations regarding his tweets were dismissed.

PANews reported on July 6 that a US judge rejected Musk's request to overturn a ruling that he defrauded Twitter investors, but also rejected allegations based on a single tweet.

07-03 13:46Important

Top 5 Stocks Most Watched by Users This Week: Storage Narrative Rejected, Strategy Proposes Solution to Alleviate Market FUD

According to BlockBeats, on July 3rd, data from Bitget showed that US stocks closed early this week before the Independence Day holiday, with the market generally continuing its high-level fluctuations, but with significant structural divergence. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new closing high, the S&P 500 traded almost sideways, while the Nasdaq was pressured by pullbacks in AI and semiconductor stocks. More than the index's rise and fall, investors were more focused on the repricing of several key themes: whether AI computing power capital expenditure can still support valuations, whether the storage and HBM (Hardware-Based Multi-Function) market has entered a high-volatility phase, and whether Bitcoin and stablecoin-related companies can translate their narratives into actual performance. Therefore, the most watched stocks this week were concentrated in AI cloud, semiconductor storage, crypto asset management, and the stablecoin ecosystem. Here are the top 5 US stocks most watched by investors this week: SK Hynix (down 6.77% this week): Concerns about computing power supply triggered by the MetaAl cloud plan led to a pullback in South Korean chip stocks; Hynix initially rose following the HBM hype this week, but then plummeted along with KOSPL, shifting the HBM theme from a one-sided upward trend to high volatility. Meta (up 5.03% this week): The market chased the possibility of it selling AI computing power and entering the cloud business, with Meta surging as much as 8.8% on July 1st; however, it subsequently fell back due to capacity constraints and competition concerns. Whether AI capital expenditure can be converted into revenue remains the core focus. Micron (down 16.48% this week): Profit-taking in memory stocks led to a sharp drop of 10.6% on July 1st, with continued downward pressure on July 2nd; news related to Trump's account investments failed to offset selling pressure, but AI memory demand and the year-to-date gains still support market attention. Strategy (up 20.69% this week): The company launched a Bitcoin capital management framework, including buybacks, selective selling of coins, and dividend arrangements, alleviating preferred stock financing pressure; MSTR rebounded significantly this week, regaining the $100 mark on July 2nd. Circle (down 13.73% this week): BNY plans to integrate USDC into its digital asset platform, increasing institutional adoption expectations; however, giants such as Visa, Stripe, and Mastercard are pushing the OpenUSD alliance, intensifying competition in the stablecoin sector.

06-30 08:35

GameStop has pledged to continue its acquisition of eBay, despite previous rejections.

PANews reported on June 30th that, according to Reuters, GameStop pledged on Friday to continue its approximately $56 billion cash-and-stock offer to acquire eBay, despite eBay's board having previously rejected the proposal. GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen proposed the acquisition in May, stating that the combined company would be a stronger challenger to Amazon and expressing interest in operating the new entity. GameStop stated on Tuesday that it would release detailed strategic presentation materials, and on Friday reiterated that "more materials related to the proposed transaction are forthcoming."

08-14 03:21

Delio CEO sentenced to 15 years in prison on crypto fraud in South Korea

More than a year after being indicted on fraud charges related to his activities at crypto company Delio, Jeong Sang-ho faces prison time in South Korea.