As the senior partner in Margin Call said: "Your smarter, your first or you cheat, and I don't cheat." It seams SBF and FTX came a different conclusion than the guy in Margin Call ("While I believe there are a lot small people here, it's much easier to be first"), and that was: "I, and we at FTX are the smartest people aroind, so nobody will catch us cheating". Hadn't they not cheated, FTX would habe gone under, sure, but nobody would have ended in jail.