SBF Bail Set at $250M. Yeah, Right

I’ll have more to say in the weekend column about developments in the Sam Bankman-Fried case. For now, I’ll just comment briefly on the setting of his bail at a purported $250 million when he appeared in the Manhattan federal courthouse (the Southern District of New York) after being extradited from the Bahamas. What a laugh!

I am reminded of the Mueller investigation dog-and-pony show with Roger Stone. You remember? They showed up with so many FBI agents that CNN — which just happened to be on the scene — had trouble finding a parking space. It was as if the bureau were locking up Osama bin Laden; reportedly, they even had amphibious teams in case the sixty-something Stone made a dive for it. After all, it was collusion with Russia, and Stone was being charged with . . . well . . . okay . . . process crimes that had nothing to do with collusion with Russia. A few hours after they made their big splash, the prosecutors and agents quietly consented to Stone’s release on his own recognizance. Not exactly the way the government normally treats a guy who is so apparently fearsome that you need a cast of thousands to effect the arrest.