His larger problem was doing everything a lawyer would tell you not to do. The world and a sufficient portion of any 12 person subsample could have accepted that these were suckers far more readily than Madoff's victims. But he broke every rule about talking, letting people know he was making up required departments, mixing conflicts of interest, etc.

True, but context matters. SBF was running a disruptive crypto startup that drew intense scrutiny, and his operations were so amateurish that proving misconduct was straightforward. Traditional corporations tend to reduce the risk of prison-worthy exposure thanks to tighter compliance and better legal insulation, even when the harm is just as large.