this is why white collar crime doesn't pay as well as people assume. even with plea deals and giving up everything, they still face a lot of jail time. white collar crimes tend to leave a lot of digital records, which makes gathering evidence easier. Way more money to be made legit.
the great thing about someone else getting caught is that you get to read the court cases about how they got caught
the LLC could have been made in any state, someone else's ID and social from a FULLZ could have been used to make a bank account online, and a prepaid card also from the same marketplace would have been enough to sign up for some digital services.
the marketplaces already require you to be using Tor, and doing the rest on Youtube over Tor would have worked as well, or you rent access to a compromised windows computer on clearnet so you don't get a debilitated browsing experience.
and then you can worry about reintegrating the proceeds into the broader economy again for your own enrichment.
> this is why white collar crime doesn't pay as well as people assume
This is a sample size of 1 (or whatever count of successfully prosecuted cases of fraud) compared to the amount of fraud there is out there. This guy just had bad luck.
There are countless instances of white-collar crime that do indeed pay very well. Some of them even operate at an industrial scale and don't even try to hide - see countless examples of massive companies routinely committing fraud - from Comcast often misbilling customers, to Airbnb reneging on their various promises and conspiring with scammers using their platform, to Amazon willingly commingling inventory and allowing counterfeiters to defraud not only end-customers but also honest sellers who often foot the bill for the returns, etc.
The timeshare pitch companies for example who call you 15 times a day are another great example. Fucking hell, I can't believe timeshares themselves are legal.
Auto warranty scams.
Health insurance scams.
Medicare scams.
Solar company scams (whatever that scam actually is about; not sure).
And so on, and so forth... Basically every company that cold calls you constantly that's not people trying to steal your bank account or credit card info.
Well will they prosecute Telemundo for racketeering and fraud for phony content ID scamming independent YT creators too? That shitshow of a company actively extorted money from independent creators. They would upload creators' own works and send DMCA strikes against them.
The fact they scored $23m from claiming the rights to a measly ~50,000 songs is pretty mind-boggling (though that was over a period of 5yrs apparently).
Also if you’re going to run a scam in business, think big. I saw a show about a guy running an illegal check cashing business worth $100M which the government swooped in and crushed. HSBC launders millions for cartels for years with official policies, no one even goes to jail. Once you’re in the 500M+ range your corruption is good to go.
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[ 11.6 ms ] story [ 54.9 ms ] threadthe LLC could have been made in any state, someone else's ID and social from a FULLZ could have been used to make a bank account online, and a prepaid card also from the same marketplace would have been enough to sign up for some digital services.
the marketplaces already require you to be using Tor, and doing the rest on Youtube over Tor would have worked as well, or you rent access to a compromised windows computer on clearnet so you don't get a debilitated browsing experience.
and then you can worry about reintegrating the proceeds into the broader economy again for your own enrichment.
So.. step #3 is full on money laundering. Got it. So simple.
you have to reintegrate the money and report it for taxes and then enjoy the spoils. you should be able to pass an audit.
these guys skipped that part and are now going to prison.
This is a sample size of 1 (or whatever count of successfully prosecuted cases of fraud) compared to the amount of fraud there is out there. This guy just had bad luck.
There are countless instances of white-collar crime that do indeed pay very well. Some of them even operate at an industrial scale and don't even try to hide - see countless examples of massive companies routinely committing fraud - from Comcast often misbilling customers, to Airbnb reneging on their various promises and conspiring with scammers using their platform, to Amazon willingly commingling inventory and allowing counterfeiters to defraud not only end-customers but also honest sellers who often foot the bill for the returns, etc.
Auto warranty scams.
Health insurance scams.
Medicare scams.
Solar company scams (whatever that scam actually is about; not sure).
And so on, and so forth... Basically every company that cold calls you constantly that's not people trying to steal your bank account or credit card info.
A simple google search yields many more examples, such as arrests over NFT rugpulls
https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/24/22995107/us-arrest-charge...
https://cointelegraph.com/news/mutant-ape-planet-creator-arr...
does this name sound familiar?
https://deadline.com/2022/12/sam-bankman-fried-arrested-ftx-...
If a corporation does it, it's a fine, usually a small fraction of the company's revenue.
The lesson is always commit crimes via a business.
The difference is usually one or a few individuals vs. a massive corporation. Diffused responsibility I assume.
(From the article)