The conspiracy theorists and professional cynics have been out in force. The reality of the situation is, SBF is so widely despised by the voting public that an example of him must be made, and any supposed power that SBF had through his political giving and connections was not close to enough.
What is Crypto if it's not a business entirely driven by cynicism and conspiracy. It was literally born from the 2007-8 financial crisis. Everyone is viewing this in the context of no one facing any consequences for that.
The FTX situation wasn't directly related to crypto from a legal standpoint. It was old school embezzlement of customer property where old school laws apply.