E172: SBF gets 25 years, Trump's meme stock, RFK Jr picks VP, Biden's 2025 budget & more

FTX’s collapse was not a case where every underlying asset was worthless; Bankman-Fried had built valuable positions and still stole customer money. He received 25 years, while the bankruptcy estate was already expecting full customer repayment and selling most of FTX’s Anthropic stake for about $884 million. (Department of Justice)

David Sacks said he confronted Bankman-Fried at a private tech conference over a California tax initiative funding a pandemic-prevention center that SBF’s brother was expected to run. Sacks told him he would publicly oppose it; according to Sacks, the initiative was dropped about a month later after mounting resistance.

Trump Media’s market value was far larger than its operating scale would ordinarily imply at the moment discussed. TMTG reported $4.13 million in 2023 revenue and no plans to publish standard platform KPIs, yet its market capitalization approached Reddit’s despite Reddit generating roughly $800 million in revenue.

Nicole Shanahan entered RFK Jr.’s ticket not only as a running mate but as a major financial backer. She had previously given $4 million to a pro-Kennedy super PAC for the Super Bowl ad, and the hosts viewed her health, criminal-justice and environmental focus as broadening Kennedy’s coalition leftward. (Reuters)

The fiscal discussion’s hardest number was that federal interest expense was nearing the scale of the entire defense budget. The episode cited a $7.3 trillion FY2025 proposal, a $1.78 trillion deficit and roughly $965 billion in interest; CBO separately projected a $1.8 trillion 2025 deficit. (Congressional Budget Office)

Cocoa’s jump from roughly $2,000 to $10,000 a ton was traced to a real supply shock, not just speculation. Heavy West African rains spread black-pod disease, Ghana’s output fell sharply, and the resulting shortage plus a futures squeeze was expected to mean higher prices and smaller chocolate bars. (Reuters)

David Sacks said he is open to making a sequel to Thank You for Smoking if director Jason Reitman wants to do it. The remark followed Elon Musk’s public recollection of how the PayPal-era group obtained the film rights and helped produce the movie nearly two decades earlier.