I'm not really sure I buy it. It seems to me more likely that he's just still incompetent and sort of addicted to the spotlight. He was one of the most popular and well-respected people in the world in a certain sub-community and he did that all while playing league of legends every day.
It might be some master plan, but it really also might just be him not wanting to accept that it's over.
I have a hard time imagining any remotely rational person wouldn't realize to just not say anything to anyone without a lawyer present.
In a way, speaking publicly like nothing's wrong somewhat normalizes the impression that everything was above the board. Perception can certainly shape public expectations. Might be his angle/strategy
Of course, anybody that digs even a second beyond the headlines realizes it was blatant fraud
> Shortly before the interview, Mr. Bankman-Fried had posted a cryptic tweet: the word “What.” Then he had tweeted the letter H. Asked to explain, Mr. Bankman-Fried said he planned to post the letter A and then the letter P. “It’s going to be more than one word,” he said. “I’m making it up as I go.”
> So he was planning a series of cryptic tweets? “Something like that.”
> But why? “I don’t know,” he said. “I’m improvising. I think it’s time.”
I think he's still winging it, and that he's taken it in a pretty weird direction. I think he's trying to pull off some sort of hail-mary. In the Tiffany Fong interview [2], it seemed like he was trying to manufacture popular support for a return to FTX. He had a story about how he shouldn't have filed for bankruptcy, how money came in immediately afterwards, and how "they" weren't letting him fix things at the company even though "they" knew he could.
It was an odd yarn, but the only purpose for it I can imagine is trying to drum up a pressure campaign so he could be reinstalled as CEO.
So I don't think he's exactly trying to stay out of jail, I think he's experimenting to try and figure out what might be possible and whether he can somehow come out on top. But that it's desperate and inept so it's just baffling from the outside and almost looks like he's trying to go to jail. But I do think he's doing it out of his own will.
It might be some master plan, but it really also might just be him not wanting to accept that it's over.
I have a hard time imagining any remotely rational person wouldn't realize to just not say anything to anyone without a lawyer present.