Nitasha TikuDec 22, 2022

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
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 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 threadSmokeyGeo
@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.
Dec 22, 2022 at 10:32pmWeb