in regards to the $1b loan
many politicians and celebrities do "personal loans" with favoured terms of repayment of just 10cents every decade or have terms where the loan is to be written off upon death/after X years
by being the loan giver and recipient. writing your own terms means you give favour to yourself to not need to repay
this is done for LEGAL tax avoidance.
yep a loan is not taxable. so instead of doing a payment of income to oneself they would give a personal loan to oneself to not have to pay tax on that money received.
its very well known tax loophole which even politicians use
as for SBF current personal holdings
he spent over $300m on real estate for his colleagues and family
I think the big difference is that those politicians (well, of course except the corrupt ones) and celebrities can be using their own money to loan for themselves so there is actually no need for transparency or accountability but with Sam the source of money is FTX whose capital is not his entirely.
here is the thing though
when it comes to any transaction. whether its a donation, a goods purchase, a loan, or a deposit into a membership/service
a transaction is just a transaction.. it then has to rely on evidence of the purpose of the transaction that then proves how to treat the funds received by the recipient(its why the taxman asks you to keep records)
this is why politicians, celebrities and tax avoiders do not just take funds. they draw up paperwork (of favoured terms) to show the purpose of the funds transfer, even when its paper wrote and then received by same person
(its no surprise SBF lacked paperwork of many transfers, but ensured he had paperwork for the 'personal loan' to himself)
this is also why exchanges need to categorically state that funds received by users are deposits and the service is acting as just a custodian/fund manager of user funds. where it has to state that funds remain the property of the customer (and include all the liability disclosures and disclaimers)
else.... not-your-key-not-your-coin
if there was a dispute. it can only truly be deemed theft, in a court. you still need to prove you are owed coins legally rather then presume they were always yours by right.
this is where exchanges need some honour and ethics and basic trust/loyalty alongside their clear user agreements of their customers, where they do the correct thing from the start without having to end up in court.
I am glad that details of this whole mess and the myriad of abuses that Sam and his minions committed is now exposed to the public so this can be serving as a big warning to people who got the same mindset or thinking as he has.
there are many many exchanges that do not state the coins handed to an exchange remain the customers property. thus the business can treat them as a donation
so always read the terms of service/user agreement. to find out how funds and customers will be treated
a regulated exchange by default has a assumed(but not guaranteed) 'customer property unless otherwise stated' prospective.
but do not take that as fully legal right. as you still need to prove that you gave those coins over for the purpose of the business to serve you as a custodian/fund manager. and it was not you just doing an airdrop/giveaway/donation/payment for something
for unregulated exchanges. its a free-for-all, again you need to prove purpose of the funds transfer to the business
always check the user agreement terms for how your funds will be treated. some exchanges may surprise you.
there are some important words.. such as "deposit" instead of "payment" address
EG
two people enter a gym. both wearing exercise clothing. there has to be a way to determine which person is an employee/trainer. vs which one is just a member/customer. where by different rules apply. such as a employment policy vs a customer policy. that changes how those two people are treated.
which is where 'uniforms'/name badges. employment contracts, membership agreements come into play