231–240 of 255 posts
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It's all fun and games until you swap AWS for Purdue Pharma and point people for doctors and suddenly there is an opium addiction epidemic. This shit has real consequences.
I guess at least the courts are there to fix things... except when it's also okay for members of the highest court of the land to get sponsored golf/hunting trips, and even be caught dead in one...
Every time this story comes up, the comments are filled with people proclaiming that kickbacks like this are totally normal and very common. I can't tell how much of it is random people projecting their cynicism onto the business world, or if it's people who have been part of bribery/kickback schemes themselves trying to normalize the behavior online. Either way, cases like this should make it clear that the behavior…
I'm glad to see the verdict and a relatively severe sentence handed down (I expected 6-12 months). What Mike did was indeed unethical and fraudulent. It's also extremely foolish and shows poor judgment on his part -- his role at Netflix was to lead the organization to identify and implement the best solutions for the company and its customers. Instead he saw the opportunity for short-term personal gain at the company…
Thanks for sharing it.
Readers of HN should take note - especially young up-and-comers.
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I guess at least the courts are there to fix things... except when it's also okay for members of the highest court of the land to get sponsored golf/hunting trips, and even be caught dead in one...
What is this referencing?
I'm glad to see the verdict and a relatively severe sentence handed down (I expected 6-12 months). What Mike did was indeed unethical and fraudulent. It's also extremely foolish and shows poor judgment on his part -- his role at Netflix was to lead the organization to identify and implement the best solutions for the company and its customers. Instead he saw the opportunity for short-term personal gain at the company…
I'm glad to see the verdict and a relatively severe sentence handed down (I expected 6-12 months). What Mike did was indeed unethical and fraudulent. It's also extremely foolish and shows poor judgment on his part -- his role at Netflix was to lead the organization to identify and implement the best solutions for the company and its customers. Instead he saw the opportunity for short-term personal gain at the company…
This kind of full disclosure is terribly important to build and maintain trust in an organization. I've even go so far as to disclose my investment portfolio to the CFO and clarify the purchasing decisions when there is overlap. Back in the day my budget was in the ten's of millions and it wasn't uncommon to make a $1m purchase of servers and storage. The moral ambiguity of accepting something in turn for making a bu…
It isn't always feasible, but when I'm faced with a decision where my judgment may be (or at least appear) compromised, I like to assemble the details and let my team or my management make the call. Nothing in life happens 100% without bias, but I think this helps to build trust in a similar way to your disclosing of financial ties.
The industry is quite small in a lot of ways, and reputation is everything. If people sense that you aren't trustworthy, you may still be able to find work -- but everything will get harder.
I'm glad to hear that you see value in professional trust as well and take the steps to earn it and keep it.
Does anyone feel like wire fraud is a catchall term for when some people are hellbent on sentencing someone, who didn't do anything that was by itself a crime? Shouldn't this be a civil case between Netflix and this guy? Why is criminal justice system even involved in this? It looks like very bad way to spend tax payers money.
Because, cynicism (and specific elected officials) aside, the government has a vested interest in people viewing it as a country of laws rather than a country of whatever you get off with is fair game.
Instead now every taxpayer pays for salaries of prosecutors and judges and whoever else is necessary to help one corporation exact a little vengeance.
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Oh please. Ever watched Mad Men, or any other tv/film that shows the wining and dining of prospective clients by a sales person/team? Every time a sales person spends money on a prospective client is written off as an expense, so the gov't is pretty much condoning it. There are tons of stories of big pharma sending doctors to lavish resorts in the guise of a "conference". Ever heard of payola? The music business has…
Mad Men is a fictional TV show set in the 1950s. "Big Pharma" sending doctors to resorts is now illegal in the US under the Sunshine Act.
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Because, cynicism (and specific elected officials) aside, the government has a vested interest in people viewing it as a country of laws rather than a country of whatever you get off with is fair game.
For me it looks even worse. Netflix, instead of creating civil lawsuit against this guy, that they would have to pay for, silently bribed the right people in the justice system to charge him with some crime instead. This way Netflix punishes the man that did them dirty without paying a cent of their taxed legal money. Instead now every taxpayer pays for salaries of prosecutors and judges and whoever else is necessary…
Or Enron?
It's just fraud. It's a small step to go from there to say that white collar crime doesn't really hurt anyone and it's on those who think they've been hurt to pursue redress in the courts on their own.