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Looks like we have a new definition of chutzpah. 

Barbara Fried, Stanford law professor and mother of alleged crypto crook Sam Bankman-Fried, has found some new “McCarthyites.”

In this case, the feds prosecuting her son and the people overseeing the bankruptcy of FTX.

The move came after a group of FTX debtors sued her (and her husband, Joseph Bankman) to get back some of the millions the couple got from their son’s crooked business. 

Maybe the legal theory article she wrote, “Beyond Blame,” was more of an instruction manual.

She did allegedly advise her son on how to beat campaign finance law disclosure rules and accept a free house in the Bahamas that looks like it was paid for with north of $16 million in shady money. 

Hmmmm. Sure looks more like crony capitalism than the communism Sen. Joe McCarthy was gunning for.

Look, we absolutely get that for altruism to be effective, it really helps if it’s backed up by big bucks. 

Quick thought, though: What if that financial firepower came from something other than, say, fraud? (Just spitballing here.) 


  Barbara Fried, who was sued for “millions of dollars in fraudulently transferred and misappropriated funds” last week, claimed that FTX’s debtors are on a “relentless pursuit of total destruction.” REUTERS Barbara Fried, who was sued for “millions of dollars in fraudulently transferred and misappropriated funds” last week, claimed that FTX’s debtors are on a “relentless pursuit of total destruction.” REUTERS

In fact, it might be the whole “beyond blame” thing that’s the problem. 

“It takes a lifetime to build up a reputation as honorable people,” said Fried of the affair, and only “five minutes to destroy it, which they now have done.”

Except it’s not really “them,” Barb. It’s you (and Joe, and your special not-so-little guy). 

But you do have to admire the nerve of all this. 

Even if Fried and Bankman are likely out of the running for Parents of the Year. 

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