Sympathy for the crypto bros

The MoJo Daily newsletter, Monday through Friday. [View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter](     December 13, 2022 Things are falling apart for Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX founder who allegedly defrauded investors before filing bankruptcy and spelling financial ruin for crypto investors, including, as my colleague Ali Breland has reported, those who [weren't very rich to start out with](. Yesterday, SBF, as he's known, was arrested in the Bahamas. Today, federal prosecutors [filed eight charges]( against him, including wire fraud, money laundering, and [making illegal campaign donations](. This is all very bad, but I have mainly been interested in [SBF's apparent relationships]( with co-workers and business associates, which, as [Intelligencer]( pointed out, are more than just salacious details and actually pretty important to understanding the company's power dynamics. While it's easy to dismiss the plight of people who invested in cryptocurrency, you can't really blame people for investing in get-rich-quick schemes when wealth inequality is widening and home ownership is a [pipe dream]( for many members of the younger generations. "The moral question upon seeing the gap between owners and buyers, between the poor and ultra-rich, between capitalist owners and workers, is how do we end it?" Ali [wrote last year](. "Yet in an economy where most people work long hours, are struggling to get by, and have deeply internalized the status quo, that question becomes: How do I get in?" On another note, we asked you last week how you felt about Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's defection from the Democratic Party, and we received dozens of enlightening responses—thank you! Here are a few we wanted to pass along. From Deborah Witherspoon McFatter in Flagstaff, who said she worked for Sinema's campaign in 2018: I can only say she has been a TOTAL disappointment in her cozying up to Pharma, kowtowing to lobbyists, not meeting with her own state’s constituents and standing in the way of important equal justice by stubbornly supporting the filibuster. From Warren Clay Hodgkiss: Sinema has no concept or conscience where loyalty is concerned. Too much party loyalty is no good; none is just as bad. She follows the money and power and serves her own—not her constituents' or the country's—interests unless they happen to coincide with her own. Sadly, she is not unique...but one would think she might resist rather than exploit the system that has implicitly demeaned her. Bruce Bailey makes a pragmatic suggestion: Seems pretty obvious to me that she's dodging the primaries in the next election. She's not popular at home. And there's one phrase that many of you repeated: "Good riddance." —Abigail Weinberg Advertisement [House Subscriptions Ad]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [A Black Cop Sided With Racial Justice Protesters. It Cost Him His Job.]( The lonely battle of former Lexington, Kentucky, police officer Jervis Middleton. BY GABBRIEL SCHIVONE SPONSORED POST     [Sponsored Content]( [“Heirs' Property” Exploitation Has Cost Many Farmers Their Land. So What Do We Do About It?]( “The reality is, many families haven’t been able to access their land wealth fully because of heirs’ property, and they face serious problems” THIS CONTENT WAS PAID FOR AND SPONSORED BY [AMERICAN FARMLAND TRUST](. [Trending] [The truth about stopping mass shootings, from Sandy Hook to Uvalde]( BY MARK FOLLMAN   [Brazil moves one step closer to a peaceful transition of power]( BY ISABELA DIAS   [A Florida judge was finally forced to kill off Trump's Mar-a-Lago "special master" lawsuit]( BY ARIANNA COGHILL   [Gold mining thugs cut "road to chaos" through Amazonian preserve]( BY TOM PHILLIPS Advertisement [House Donations Ad]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [They weren’t rich but they wanted to invest. Then they lost everything on FTX.]( The amateur investors who trusted the crypto platform have lost a shot at financial stability. BY ALI BRELAND [Here are the facts] December is [make-or-break]( for Mother Jones’ fundraising. We have an ambitious $350,000 goal and all online gifts will be matched and go twice as far until we get there. We can’t afford to come up short: Donations big and small make up 74 percent of our budget. If you can right now, this is an important time to support Mother Jones with a year-end gift—it will be doubled thanks to an incredibly generous donor. [Donate]( Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755