Quote of the Day (Ginia Bellafante, on Why Having Sam Bankman-Fried Testify Was ‘A Self-Defeating Proposition’)

“From the outset, the decision to have Mr. Bankman-Fried testify in the federal trial that charged him with some of the most grievous acts of financial fraud in the country’s history seemed like a self-defeating proposition. Ostentatiously unfazed by physical beauty, art, novels, fashion, religion and heated food, he was also an avowed hater of Shakespeare ('one-dimensional' characters, 'illogical plots,' 'obvious endings') who was mystified by emotionally driven decisions, challenging any effort to place him somewhere on a continuum of human relatability.”—“Big City” columnist Ginia Bellafante, “In Crypto Case, Using an Image as a Shield,” The New York Times, Nov. 5, 2023

The image accompanying this post, showing Sam Bankman-Fried on a video call during the MIT Bitcoin Expo 2022, was taken July 8, 2022.