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The defense lawyer of the main figure in the largest Ponzi scheme, Madoff, gave SBF some sound advice: "Shut up."

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The defense lawyer of the main figure in the largest Ponzi scheme, Madoff, gave SBF some sound advice: "Shut up."

Ira Sorkin, the lead defense attorney in Wall Street's largest Ponzi scheme case involving Madoff, had some sage advice for SBF, who has been recently "touring the media" – "Shut up."

What is SBF saying during the tour?

Currently, SBF's interviews in major media outlets focus on two main points: accounting errors and Alameda Research having too high a borrowing limit.

In an interview with the Financial Times, SBF mentioned that compared to other clients, Alameda Research has a higher borrowing limit on FTX, as Alameda was a major liquidity provider for FTX in its early days. SBF stated that he should regularly review these rules and limits.

When FTX applied for bankruptcy protection, Alameda's debt to FTX was around $10 billion.

Another key point SBF wanted to address is that the $8 billion loss of user funds was not due to malicious embezzlement, but rather an accounting error. He explained that users typically convert fiat currencies through Alameda because banks prefer dealing with quantitative funds and have a natural aversion to exchanges.

This led to over $80 billion in liquid assets being double-counted on FTX's balance sheet.

However, this explanation was refuted by Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong.

Brian Armstrong believes that SBF's explanation is nonsense, as no matter how bad the accounting is, you would not overlook suddenly having an extra $8 billion to spend:

I don't care how chaotic your accounting is or how rich you are. If you find an extra $8 billion to spend, you would notice it. It's as simple as diverting user funds to his quantitative fund.

It seems that users, peers, and SBF's legal team all hope that SBF can stop making public statements, except for regulatory authorities.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters expressed her gratitude to SBF for continuous communication after the incident, and she hopes that SBF will attend the hearing in the House of Representatives on the 13th of this month. The hearing aims to investigate the bankruptcy of FTX.