Case 1:22-cr-00673-LAK Doc 407-3 Filed 02/27/24
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programming workers used it for a Hackathon. Sam lived in it and – paid lease for that privilege – for
six months-about half of the time he was within the Bahamas. Even when he was formally dwelling in
the condo, he was extra more likely to be discovered elsewhere – typically sleeping on a bean bag chair in
the workplace. Like every part about Sam, that wasn’t an affectation. He simply would not care in regards to the
creature comforts that the majority of us worth. He’s equally tired of hobnobbing with the wealthy
and well-known and usually uncomfortable with consideration. He did what he thought he needed to do for
the great of the corporate, typically at some important private value to himself. What FTX spent on
promoting, journey, and housing is in keeping with what comparable multibillion greenback firms
spend, and a small fraction of what many do spend. For anybody who is aware of Sam, the favored
portrayal of him as a high-rolling, celebrity-secking, CEO pushed by greed is just weird.
I’m the son of a small businessman and advised Sam what I imagine my father would have advised him:
take some cash out for your self and put it someplace secure. Or purchase one thing particular, so that you
can get pleasure from life extra. Others, together with senior counsel, advised Sam the identical factor. In response to
one enterprise journal, by 2022, Sam had a web price of greater than $20 billion. He might simply
have offered a billion {dollars}’ price of inventory. He would not try this, although. He needed to depart
each penny within the enterprise to finance its progress. He had a wage of $200,000, which was extra
than sufficient for his private consumption wants. He had nothing “salted away” when the crash
got here.
Barbara and I stayed with Sam within the Bahamas for the month following the collapse, and
witnessed firsthand his single-minded deal with getting a refund to depositors, lengthy after there
was any chance he would be capable of save any of his fairness or wealth. A couple of week after the
implosion, Sam and I had been talking to a potential protection counsel. The lawyer was aghast
when Sam advised him that he was spending all of his time working with the Bahamian authorities
to get depositors their a refund. The lawyer strongly suggested Sam to deal with his protection.
“Are you conscious,” requested the lawyer, “that at the same time as we communicate, there’s most likely a room of vivid,
hard-working and bold folks someplace whose objective is to place you in jail?”
“Yup,” answered Sam, “and that is just about irrelevant to me in comparison with serving to depositors.”
I acknowledge that the Sam I’ve described is strongly at odds with how the general public sees him, and
could appear unbelievable to the readers of this letter, together with this courtroom. I might add a whole bunch of
different examples of his kindness and real and deep concern for others, however I am undecided how
a lot distinction they might make, and doing so would absolutely attempt the persistence of readers. I’ll
add solely that had been the social prices of claiming something optimistic about Sam at this second in time
not prohibitive, I’m assured many others who’ve identified him all through his life would
describe a lot the identical particular person.
I would like now to return to the challenges I referred to firstly, and their implications for
sentencing. Sam has struggled all through his life to be taught and management issues most of us take for
granted, reminiscent of eye contact, small discuss, and responding to social cues.
There’s a optimistic aspect to this wrestle. Sam’s life expertise has made him tolerant of
range in the way in which most of us can’t be. Sam employed staff with communication
difficulties so nice that they might not in any other case get or preserve one other job. I bear in mind him
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Ex. A-2
