modest_engineerDec 22, 2022
Nitasha Tiku

Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research just pleaded guilty 7 counts for defrauding FTX customers. I was just looking up who her lawyer was and realized I missed this. She hired Stephanie Avakian who was at the SEC from 2016 to 2022 led a team that worked on the cases against:

-Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos
-Elon Musk for tweeting misleading statements about taking Tesla private
-Facebook for misleading investors about misusing user data
-cases against Ripple + Robinhood

https://www.businessinsider.com/caroline-ellison-hires-former-top-sec-crypto-regulator-lawyer-ftx-2022-12

Caroline Ellison hires former top SEC crypto regulator as lawyer in FTX investigation

Stephanie Avakian, the SEC's former enforcement director, led major regulatory cases against companies like Robinhood, Tesla, and Theranos.

Insider
Dec 22, 2022 at 3:30amWeb
Show threadKay DubDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku @drewharwell so she was REAL guilty… LOL.
Show threadMartha HowellDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku Everyone powerful seems to be in bed with everyone powerful. Then they wonder why we feel like the system is rigged.
Show threadCypherDec 22, 2022
@MHowell @nitashatiku I don't understand how this is linked. The issue is that you can make more money private than doing public work so most people end up leaving the public sector.
Show threadkeplernikoDec 22, 2022
@cspcypher @MHowell @nitashatiku I think the point is that this lawyer is probably at the top of the list of who you want to hire if you were in Ellison’s situation. If anyone can defend her case it will be someone who has sat on the other side of cases as high-profile as this one surely will be.
Show threadCypherDec 22, 2022
@keplerniko @MHowell @nitashatiku yea, but how is that "everyone is in bed with everyone" lol
Show threadEel-on-MolluskDec 24, 2022
@MHowell @nitashatiku I mean sure, but how is that relevant here? She hired a lawyer who knew her stuff.
Show threadSmokeyGeoDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku anyone who has to hire a lead partner from WilmerHale and several other attorneys is in deep doo-doo and will be bankrupt shortly. Not obvious how she'll be able to pay her legal bills after criminal proceeds forfeiture
Show threadHalf Cocked LawDec 22, 2022
@smokeygeo @nitashatiku She paid her legal bills upfront. WilmerHale's white collar team doesn't take cases on credit.
Show threadSereneDec 22, 2022
@smokeygeo @nitashatiku I hate this take and it's always wrong, no matter how guilty anyone is in a specific case. (Like this.) The answer to this question is why it's always wrong: If you were innocent and rich would you not hire the best damn lawyer you could?
The poor deserve great lawyers too, but hiring the best lawyer you can doesn't mean you're guilty and we need to stop thinking like this.
Show threadSmokeyGeoDec 22, 2022
@mythserene @nitashatiku #1 she pled guilty, so, she's guilty
#2 while if you were innocent you would hire the best lawyer you could afford but what I don't get is how she can afford it, after criminal asset forfeiture (which has to be all her assets since she made all her money in FTX). Her family is probably paying and they'll be bankrupted
#3 I know ppl from WilmerHale- their hourly rates push $1000
Show threadSereneDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku @smokeygeo ↓︎
What I hate so much is the general attitude — and tbf yours was very nominal & just happened to be the third I saw — but the attitude pervades and never hurts the people who can't afford to hire WH, and instead hurts wrongful convictions and regular defendants with normal (or bad) lawyers. What's important to me is erasing all tropes that link guilt and advocacy. It's crazy how much they cross over and damn the poor and innocent.
Show threadSmokeyGeoDec 22, 2022
@mythserene @nitashatiku i did not make any inferences about guilt and advocacy- in fact this client had already pled guilty so that's not even an issue. Just that hiring good counsel is a bankruptcy-inducing event, even for the wealthy. Just look at the news from ppl in the White House who were pressured to hire Trump-paid counsel bc they couldn't afford their own.
Show threadLaimisDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku I think justice department will get the most use from her collaborating against SBF, but hopefully some jail time for all three is there
Show threadJayBlueDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku The fact that she can afford to hire Avakian is damning.
Show threadJulie WellsDec 22, 2022
@JayBlue @nitashatiku when you’re right, you’re right.
Show threadMarvinDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku she pleaded guilty already?
Show threadMazal ​Dec 22, 2022
@notmarvc @nitashatiku right? 😮​
Show threadMarvinDec 22, 2022
@mazal @nitashatiku saw the news. She and Gary pleaded guilty already. Interesting times ahead I guess? 😏
Show threadJenLDec 22, 2022
@notmarvc @mazal @nitashatiku Typically you only hire Wilmer to negotiate a deal (they are a revolving for of ex-government big wigs and prosecutors), if you want to fight aggressively you hire another firm.
Show threadNitasha TikuDec 22, 2022
@jelasher @notmarvc @mazal interesting. looks like that's what Caroline did!
Show threadHalf Cocked LawDec 22, 2022
@jelasher @notmarvc @mazal @nitashatiku If you want to fight aggressively, you're the last one holding the bag.
Show threadMarvinDec 22, 2022
@halfcocked @jelasher @mazal @nitashatiku i believe Carolline and Gary are snitching on Sam lol
Show threadKarrieSullyDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku Elizabeth Holmes and SBF score similarly psychologically. Let’s just say they’re disconnected from any sense of humanity… like - Thanos snap on 1/2 the population and wouldn’t care. VCs have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure these profiles don’t end up lurking in their portfolios. It’s preventable.
Show threadCypherDec 22, 2022
@KarrieSully @nitashatiku what are you basing your psychoanalysis on?
Show threadKarrieSullyDec 22, 2022
@cspcypher @nitashatiku trait-based psychology has a deep connection to language. We use ML (based in computational linguistics) on publicly available speech and writing samples. All we need is 50-75 words for high accuracy personality trait assessments.
Show threadSimon LucyDec 22, 2022

@KarrieSully @cspcypher @nitashatiku

Ah witchy, witchy; who audits your model?

Show threadAmbiorickxDec 22, 2022
@KarrieSully @simon_lucy @nitashatiku @cspcypher the blockchain, duh.
Show threadKarrieSullyDec 22, 2022
@ambiorickx @simon_lucy @nitashatiku @cspcypher
Lol - no DLT needed except if we decide to go consumer or with any expansion - we may anonymize & secure individual results via DLT. IMHO - I like security as a use case far more than transactions.
Show threadKarrieSullyDec 22, 2022
@simon_lucy @cspcypher @nitashatiku audit: a) I’m a stickler for making sure we diverse eyes on any models from data to utility. b) we have a couple of trait-based psychologists that periodically audit outcomes c) we check the model against many / diverse human benchmarks that were reviewing for history and current point in time progress
Show threadSimon LucyDec 22, 2022

@KarrieSully @cspcypher @nitashatiku

You'll realise that cynicism is going to be a common reaction to "All we need is 50-75 words for high accuracy personality trait assessments.", given the use of Myers Briggs and it's erosion of decision making in resource management in many corporations.

Show threadKarrieSullyDec 22, 2022
@simon_lucy @cspcypher @nitashatiku I anticipate it. I really only chat about the model with folks that I think will get it (humans are just a tiny bit complex + the tech is complex). It’s hard to distill and people need to process through their questions / understanding in different ways. I tend not to blast everyone with a dissertation that would just make people glaze over. Intellectual curiosity and engagement is always better. :)
Show threadSimon LucyDec 22, 2022

@KarrieSully @cspcypher @nitashatiku

That's all true, but the difference between snake oil and something you can trust is knowing the ingredients, something of the process and what it's really designed for. Furniture polish might clean your teeth but it's not recommended.

So I might ask what's the point? Claims that either individuals are so narrowly and specifically defined or that language is both complex and simple are going to get 'so what' as a response.

Show threadKarrieSullyDec 22, 2022
@simon_lucy @cspcypher @nitashatiku We’re plotting where people land today in their own personal / psychological evolution, along a continuum via detailed traits. The machine is meant to be radar > diagnosis. Ex: Don’t use it to automate hiring and firing decisions. As a DS pro - you know that machines/ML are great decisions and tasks. Judgement, however is human.
We’re just trying to help the humans improve their judgment. :)
Show threadSimon LucyDec 22, 2022

@KarrieSully @cspcypher @nitashatiku

Well if the context fits then the machine learning will drive a reasonable solution, sometimes it's only the smallest variations that means the solution misses. When they miss they tend to miss completely.

Of course if the model just perpetuates presumptions and categories and then the correlation with whatever language triggers with too wide a window then is it more than rolling dice on a character generator?

Which is harsh.

Show threadKarrieSullyDec 23, 2022
@simon_lucy @cspcypher @nitashatiku totally fair. I may not have been clear. There’s a mix of both the machine and human interpretation at play here. The machine does the heavy lifting around harvesting data, stats, QA, etc. When it comes to translating that into insights that help leaders, teams, and people - it requires human eyes and judgment to go the last mile so we’re constantly checking it against reality.
Show threadSimon LucyDec 23, 2022

@KarrieSully @cspcypher @nitashatiku

That's how to use ML. :-)

Show threadCypherDec 22, 2022
@KarrieSully @nitashatiku that seems like a really low word count tbh but cool that you are using nlp
Show threadKarrieSullyDec 22, 2022
@cspcypher @nitashatiku it’s surprisingly accurate. More is better statistically, of course. I just did a company that’s going IPO early next year and wish investors had this kind of information to make decisions on. We can literally compare leadership teams to financial performance in recession/crisis and good economies.
Show threadCypherDec 22, 2022

@KarrieSully @nitashatiku hope to hear more about this in the future. I'm a DS in the real world so I'm sure I'll see it uses 😉

I'm very interested to know what you used for your training data. I assume you worked with criminal data set

Show threadKarrieSullyDec 22, 2022
@cspcypher @nitashatiku ha - I hope so!! I was just discussing it yesterday with a group online as a better way of human due diligence for VCs. We’d find more money in diverse hands if we did. PEs have a fiduciary resoponsibility to do psych evals on execs - why shouldn’t VC?
The dataset is recognizable and diagnosable public figures that include criminal, political, dictator (eg Hitler, Castro, Ted Cruz 🤣), high profile successful execs…
Show threadCypherDec 22, 2022
@KarrieSully @nitashatiku wait, so this set includes people aren't diagnosed in a clinical setting?
Show threadKarrieSullyDec 22, 2022
@cspcypher @nitashatiku benchmarks started with clinical diagnosis and professional but non clinical setting diagnosis (trait psychs use language too). Now we only use clinical diagnosis to validate the model periodically. This has been a 10+ year project. :)
Show threadKeef86Dec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku
Show threadHalf Cocked LawDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen.
Show threadCypherDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku so she's turning state's evidence...
Show threadSteve TorrenteDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku Payment in USD, EUR, RMB, seashells, or Diner's Club card only.
Show threadI have seen the Time KnifeDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku the revolving door from regulator to private firm (and sometimes back again) isn’t surprising to me, but the size of those cases within that short period of time that she managed is somewhat surprising. Are we living in sketchier times or are we just hearing about it more?
Show threadBálint SzilaksziDec 22, 2022

@nitashatiku

sounds surprisingly sophisticated.

SBF getting mostly thrown under the bus? (not that there wouldn't be cause for that)

Show threadgabboman (Follow me on wafrn)Dec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku that lawyer got payed with stolen money.
Show threadFonzDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku Are there any lawyers who can explain why a plea deal was given here? It seems like so much of the fraud was brazenly committed out in the open. Is her cooperation really necessary to convict SBF?
Show threadPPP GrifterDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku I hope she’s wearing her reasonableness pants
Show threadSkippyDec 22, 2022
@nitashatiku I don't understand why they accepted a plea deal from her when you have to think they've 1) got the goods on her big time and 2) have SBF all but confessing on a daily basis in interviews and such. Is it really worthwhile to get a deal in the can when you've got everyone dead to rights or am I overestimating how strong their case is?
Show threadNitasha TikuDec 22, 2022
@jwheat1968 I couldn't say whether there was a strategy behind SBF's apology tour, but he did not "confess" to much. In the interviews I read/heard, he framed misuse of customer funds as: recent, or a mistake, or a function of him not paying attention. He also said he was removed from Alameda Research. You can download the most recent complaint here with Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang acknowledging liability and it paints a VERY different story about what happened. https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8644-22
CFTC Charges Alameda CEO and Alameda and FTX Co-Founder with Fraud in Action Against Sam Bankman-Fried and his Companies | CFTC

Show threadራስ ባሪያው Rass BariawJan 1, 2023
@nitashatiku interesting choice of attorneys