Follow The Scummy Money

 For Lo!  We Are Back On The Subject Of FTX Again

Thanks again to Joe Blogs for all the salacious details.  You should check out his Youtube channel, he posts daily.  He followed up on his broadcast yesteryon about the collapse of FTX with a lot more damning evidence that belies a lot of the company and it's founder's, Sam Bankman-Fried (you couldn't make this up!), beliefs.

     First of all, I have to post an attractive and compelling picture, because finance can be desperately dull stuff in person.  Art!

The epitomy of conspicuous consumption
(And I'm not telling you which film it's from.  Heh.*)

          Firstly, there is one Caroline Ellison.  She was the CEO of Alameda Research, a premier part of FTX's many, many branches, and also the girlfriend of SBF.  DANGER WILL ROBINSON! Can you spot the Conflict Of Interest here?  She graduated with a Masters in Mathematics (I nearly typed "Methematics which - you'll see) from Massachusetts Institute Of Technology.  My old manager, Gavin, was utterly convinced that anyone good at mathematics was automatically a pervert.  Hmmm normally I would tut and shake my head but read on.  Art!

The happy couple

     Then she dealt in equity trading for 18 months before being appointed CEO of AR.  Where she permitted the loan of $10 billion of investor funds to FTX, which was promptly 'lost'.

     Ooops.

     She also, verrrry unwisely, posted on Twitter about her indulgence in taking amphetamines and how it elevated her above the rest of the normies.  Remember, this is the CEO of a major business function in a $32 billion company.

     Then there are the homes bought for FTX staff.  Not for the business, but for named people, like the $40 million Oasis Penthouse in the Bahamas.  This is where SBF, CE and seven other people lived, although there were only five bedrooms.  Go look up 'Polyamory'.  Art!

     Can you say 'Conflict Of Interest' AGAIN?

     We then move on to the political donations FTX dished out: $40 million in total.  The politicians (Ice Cream Bandits, I think) are now donating this tainted money to various charities rather than risk contamination by association.

     On one of the more recent drives to raise investment capital, FTX brought in $420 million.  $300 million of this went straight into the pockets of SBF, which is rather odd for a chap who claimed to be only in it for the intellectual challenge, not the money.

     Joe also explained that the collapse of FTX has a serious knock-on effect for other cryptocurrency entities.  Blockfi has now filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy thanks to having extensive investments in FTX; Multicoin Capital may be going the same way as 50% of their investment was with FTX; Liquid has stopped investors from withdrawing funds, as have Salt and Nestcoin - this is to prevent a run on funds that may crash the company.

     It may take years to resolve this corporate bodge-up of epic proportions.  It took 5 years to finally tie up Enron's affairs; unlike Enron FTX lacks records, communications, audits, accountancy and O!  Caroline Ellison has vanished.  Art!

"Zareba"

No! Nothing to do with stripey black-and-white horses.  Conrad is unsure why exactly Oscar, my subconscious and a Contributing Editor, brought this word up, except that he did.  Thanks, Oscar, for helping with content creation.

     Conrad remembers having an A4-sized historical volume waaaaay back in the day, the title of which escapes him, but it had fantastic Ron Embleton artwork and was on historical battles.  Hang on -

Yessss!

     The reason I bring up this obscure gem is because one of the battles mentioned is the Battle Of Omdurman, where I believe the Sudanese rebels used a 'Zareba' as a rear-area protected space.  This is a barrier or fortification made out of thorn bushes.  Art!

     Er - yes.  Couldn't find any illo for Omdurman.  This is from the Battle Of Arnhem, and is probably the bridge at Nijmegen.

     ANYWAY a zareba -

A less martial application

The Dark Side Of The Moon

No!  Not the Pink Floyd album.  If I meant that then it would be in quotes and in Bold Fuschia.  No, I refer, of course - obviously! - to the current NASA mission to send an Orion spacecraft to the Moon and back.  Because this is real life and not a Michael Bay film, this is an un-manned mission with all the work being done remotely.  Art!

Meet Apollo 6

     The final un-manned test flight for Apollo was Apollo 6, proving that a circumlunar flight was possible.  This happened 54 years ago, which is a bit of a Yikes! moment.

     ANYWAY Orion is now sending back images before it enters radio-shadow on the far side of Ol' Luna.  Art!

     As a species, Hom. Sap. are going back to the Moon, and it's going to be sooner rather than later.  Can't wait!

"The Sea Of Sand"

The gallant yet utterly outmatched Italian Camionistas are staging a desperate last stand at Mersa Martuba.

Soldato Pretoro, sweating so much he didn’t think there was any liquid left in his body, squinted down the sights of the Breda twenty-millimetre cannon. The combination of sweat and sand made him feel as if his uniform was composed of sandpaper; the slightest movement grated on his skin   Every few seconds he brushed his brow, preventing perspiration from getting into his eyes.

          Who and what were they fighting!  The First and Second Sections had been wiped out without so much as a single shot being fired.

          Pretoro wiped his left temple again, listening intently.  Yes, a heavy crunching sound came from the left.  The kind of sound tanks made on desert ground when travelling slowly.  Across the beaten path of the supply depot’s main road he saw another Sahariana, from the reserve unit, Fourth Section.  Only armed with a Fiat machine gun.  The driver looked pale and anxious.

          Pretoro darted a look at Bartolomei, his assistant.  Bartolomei held two magazines of ammunition for the cannon, and displayed an idiotic grin.  

Stupid Neapolitan peasant! raged Pretoro, for all of a second.  Then the glossy glassy hull of the enemy tank moved across his field of vision, fractionally later than that of the crew opposite him.  The hammering of a machine gun sounded, with the high-pitched crack and whine of ricochets.

     Believe me, at that range a Breda 20mm would give even a Matilda II a hard time.

Explain The Train

Conrad is not one of those incredibly sad anoraks who muck about with model trains <like you have room to talk! - the horrid truth courtesy Mister Hand> so no, this is not about HO Scale Hornby Tri-Ang 2-8-4 locomotives.  Art!

     It's such a mundane yet profound moment.  Network Rail can only dream - or perhaps nightmare - about a reception like this, because under what circumstances do people weep with appreciation at a train arriving?  Art!

     Don't forget, this is the city that Peter The Average declared was going to be 'Eternally Ruffian' and where - supposedly - 87% of the population voted to be part of Ruffia.  'Part of Ruffia' my hairy white hindquarters!  They greeted the Borcs with protests and demonstrations, and this is how they greet liberation - Art!

     You can guarantee that NO Ruffian news channels will be covering this embarrassing event, unless it's along the lines of "Nazi-fuelled Ukronazi trains enter Khersonazi" and similar shizzle.  Yeah yeah yeah.  What you couldn't steal from Kherson you destroyed, and yet the people who live there are ecstatic you're gone.  Art!

VITAL RUFFIAN INFRASTRUCTURE EVACUATED FROM KHERSON

*  Okay, okay, it's from "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen"