WaPo offers more sympathetic look at the gal who gladly helped Sam Bankman-Fried steal people's money

At this point, it seems fair to ask what Caroline Ellison has on the Washington Post. Must be something really big and juicy.

Because why else would the Washington Post write a piece like this about Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-infamous number two?

Liberal PMC solidarity at its best. Poor Caroline Ellison, she only wanted to make the world a better place, sob. It's quite literally inconceivable that @washingtonpost would have covered the disgrace of a right-wing businesswomen w/such cloying sympathy. https://t.co/ZnFC1WoJs1

— davidrieff (@davidrieff) January 2, 2023

We honestly don’t know what Caroline Ellison’s personal politics are. But yes, it’s safe to say that if she were an outspoken right-winger, Gerrit De Vynck’s piece would not be quite so … generous.

More from Gerrit De Vynck:

Now, however, Ellison has split from Bankman-Fried in a big way: She’s cooperating with federal prosecutors who have accused him of orchestrating one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history.

Last month, Ellison, 28, pleaded guilty to charges alleging that she, Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives conspired to steal their customers’ money to invest in other companies, make political donations and buy expensive real estate — charges that carry a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison. At a Dec. 19 hearing, Ellison apologized to FTX customers and investors, saying she knew what she did was wrong.

…

On a Tumblr blog that linked to her Twitter account, Ellison said she didn’t get into crypto as a “true believer.” “It’s mostly scams and memes when you get down to it,” reads one post on an archived version of the Tumblr account. But she saw value in the core technology behind crypto, which allows transactions without a bank or government mediating them.

“If authoritarian governments are a serious threat to civilization, which seems not totally insane, it could end up being important,” reads the rest of the post, dated March 24, 2022.

To be fair, you can’t really characterize what De Vynck wrote as outright fawning, but, like, come on. It’s difficult to read about her apology and her noble commitment to undermining authoritarian government’s without getting a sickening sense of the sympathy De Vynck feels for Ellison. If Ellison knew that crypto was “mostly scams and memes when you get down to it” and that she knew the entire time that she and Bankman-Fried were defrauding people, why should we care about her motivations at this point? Her “effective altruism,” if that’s what you want to call it? She knowingly fleeced people who were led to believe that they could trust her and Sam Bankman-Fried, and had they not gotten caught, they’d still be doing it to this day.

These headlines are embarrassing. I like the 'effective altruism'. It's a nice cover to virtue signal while you rip off the common man. I especially like how it is positioned as something 'smart' people do.

— Results over intent. (@FreeToChooseMF) January 2, 2023

Caroline Ellison is not a good person who got tricked into doing bad things. And it’s really annoying that the mainstream media at large is suggesting that we either have to feel sorry for her or justify our loathing for her by, say, characterizing her as “a new darling of the alt-Right.”

Seriously, it’s really getting on our nerves, and it should be getting on your nerves as well. The Washington Post is so far beyond pathetic at this point, we’re not even sure what to call them.

SBF and Caroline Ellison are enemies now, which means journalists are picking sides.

This is starting to feel like Twilight fans debating "Team Jason or Team Edward" https://t.co/G1waV9RxWE

— John Hasson (@SonofHas) January 2, 2023

For what it’s worth, it looks like the journalists at the Washington Post might have some trouble choosing their preferred fighter. It wasn’t so long ago that some of them were trying to make Sam Bankman-Fried look like he’s not actually such a bad dude when you get to know him:

https://t.co/03AIeVsllS

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) January 2, 2023

Yeah, check out this Washington Post piece from this past November:

FTX collapse dooms founder’s effort to prevent another pandemic, @ddiamond reports https://t.co/YOZMtPnJkC

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) November 16, 2022

Geez, Louise.

Phil, how much did he give you guys?

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) November 17, 2022

Must’ve been a pretty substantial gift. Shouldn’t the Washington Post have to return any of that money they hypothetically received from the FTX folks to the investors who got screwed by Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison?

Every last journo to Gitmohttps://t.co/xhIZcEjq9X

— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) January 2, 2023

That seems more than fair, no? At least with regard to journos of the Washington Post variety. Too call them useless would be way too generous; they’re actively bad for journalism.

These headlines are embarrassing. I like the 'effective altruism'. It's a nice cover to virtue signal while you rip off the common man. I especially like how it is positioned as something 'smart' people do.

— Results over intent. (@FreeToChooseMF) January 2, 2023

That’s indeed a fun little touch.