Netflix Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for 700K Bribes, Kickbacks from Vendors • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for 700K Bribes, Kickbacks from Vendors

#161

Post by mattbee » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 6:08 PM UTC

mattbee wrote: post #154

vishnugupta wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know of people who AWS fully sponsored, including business class intercontinental travel, to attend re:Invent which is essentially a week long holiday party, by virtue of AWS bill. Every vendor has marketing budget and a decent portion of it goes to keeping their point people at clients happy. You can call it kick back or whatever, it’s a matter of semantics. So yes it is normal. And no it’s neither cynical and nor…

Kickbacks are a personal payment, an illegal personal incentive to a business transaction. This guy was soliciting cash and stocks! A crummy sponsored trip to a conference would have been arranged through the employer, and is not the same thing.

Also, the set of people with a happy home life and people who are excited by corporate hospitality is a small one.

Re: Netflix Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for 700K Bribes, Kickbacks from Vendors

#162

Post by everybodyknows » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 6:08 PM UTC

kbenson wrote: post #6

> and serve a three term of supervision upon release from prison. Is there a typo in there, is that just a weird legal term, or is it just me that has a hard time processing what that means?

Also this, with directionality of "bribe" reversed:

>Mr. Kail chose which IT contracts were awarded by Netflix according to how he was able to bribe those companies to provide him with financial compensation

Re: Netflix Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for 700K Bribes, Kickbacks from Vendors

#163

Post by everybodyknows » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 6:13 PM UTC

qwertyuiop_ wrote: post #112

Why is Vistara LLC not charged for bribing this guy ? https://www.linkedin.com/company/vistara I know anecdotally a lot of US based Indian Outsourcing companies, TCS, Infosys, Mahindra, HCL bribe the mid-senior IT executives by buying them offshore properties under LLCs. If you look at Avis, Disney and other corps, the top level IT execs are bribed to the gills by these companies.

Maybe they don't leave a paper trail a mile wide and deep, unlike this clown?

> Two days before Unix Mercenary was registered with the California Secretary of State, Kail signed a Sales Representative Agreement to receive cash payments from Netenrich, Inc., amounting to 12% of any billings ...

This is not to excuse the criminality, but rather to suggest an unhappy likelihood that the great bulk of graft flows by more sophisticated arrangements.

Re: Netflix Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for 700K Bribes, Kickbacks from Vendors

#164

Post by ghaff » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 6:14 PM UTC

___q wrote: post #160

horsawlarway wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever been under 18 and owned a spray paint can or a permanent marker? Crime. Ever connected to an open wifi network without directly confirming with the owner you're allowed? Crime. Ever held your phone while driving? Crime. Happen to also be headed downhill and hit 1mph over the limit? Double crime! Ever walked across your street outside of clearly marked crossings? Crime. Ever sung happy birthday in public? Crime.…

"Happy birthday" is public domain and you don't need to report things you buy online on your taxes

>you don't need to report things you buy online on your taxes

In at least some states (e.g. Massachusetts) you are indeed supposed to report out of state purchases brought into the state whether or not the company selling to you collected the state sales tax or not. (Larger companies shipping to you now have to collect.)

Re: Netflix Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for 700K Bribes, Kickbacks from Vendors

#165

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 6:15 PM UTC

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #13

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…

[deleted]

Re: Netflix Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for 700K Bribes, Kickbacks from Vendors

#166

Post by kingcharles » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 6:15 PM UTC

dustymcp wrote: post #148

Imagine the money he has to pay in prison for protection

I know this is just an off-the-cuff quip, but the real answer is probably zero. He's minimum security. He's going to have very little problems like this, even as a rich white guy.

When I was locked up, I was in Max with mostly murderers. I got tricked out of a $10 phone card in my first week, and the guy said he'd protect me as a thank you. After I realized I'd been dumb I never made that mistake again. I found just being polite, but firm, was enough.

He'll be fine. He'll probably never get into a single fight. He'll be asked for commissary. He'll share some of his commissary, but everyone does that in prison anyway, especially with the guys that have nothing.

Re: Netflix Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for 700K Bribes, Kickbacks from Vendors

#167

Post by spockz » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 6:15 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #145

vishnugupta wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know of people who AWS fully sponsored, including business class intercontinental travel, to attend re:Invent which is essentially a week long holiday party, by virtue of AWS bill. Every vendor has marketing budget and a decent portion of it goes to keeping their point people at clients happy. You can call it kick back or whatever, it’s a matter of semantics. So yes it is normal. And no it’s neither cynical and nor…

While normal business travel can have a bit of a boondoggle aspect to it (and your example would probably not be OK for US government employees), it's not generally considered a personal payment or gift as a kickback would be. So, no, it's not the same thing in the manner that paying for someone's personal vacation week on a tropical island would be. Companies pick up at least some expenses for customers, partners, j…

Working in finance, I have to report any gift above €50. This includes when I would receive a gift or lottery for a training, a conference, etc. So for us it is at least treated like a potential personal payment.

Re: Netflix Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for 700K Bribes, Kickbacks from Vendors

#168

Post by colpabar » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 6:15 PM UTC

When I read things like this, I can't help but think of how no one went to jail after the 2008 financial crisis. $700k from a group of private companies? WHO CARES? Congress just said insider trading is ok when they do it, can we maybe go after some of that next time?

Re: Netflix Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for 700K Bribes, Kickbacks from Vendors

#169

Post by Cerium » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 6:16 PM UTC

horsawlarway wrote: post #128

pyronite wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not aware of any laws I've unintentionally broken. Which kinds of laws are you speaking of?

Ever been under 18 and owned a spray paint can or a permanent marker? Crime. Ever connected to an open wifi network without directly confirming with the owner you're allowed? Crime. Ever held your phone while driving? Crime. Happen to also be headed downhill and hit 1mph over the limit? Double crime! Ever walked across your street outside of clearly marked crossings? Crime. Ever sung happy birthday in public? Crime.…

For those questioning the online taxes - if you are in California you absolutely have to pay taxes on these purchases. You can pay actual taxes or an "estimate" based on your income if you believe you have normal levels of purchasing.

From [1]: Generally, if sales tax would apply when you buy physical merchandise in California, use tax applies when you make a similar purchase without tax from a business located outside the state. For these purchases, the buyer is required to pay use tax separately.

[1] https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/use-tax.htm

Re: Netflix Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for 700K Bribes, Kickbacks from Vendors

#170

Post by jimkleiber » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 6:17 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #84

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #13

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 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. Or people who actually know about those things, having worked in/with/studied the various industries, without having "been part of bribery/kickback schemes themselves", and have seen them to be fairly wide…

I guess for me it comes down to numbers. What does "fairly widespread" equate to? 50% of American corporate executives do this? 10%? 1%? Or are we talking about global executives at firms that net over $1B revenue per year?

It may seem nitpicky and yet I think the context and statistics matter—without it, I think we can fall into very binary discussions of people being corrupt or clean, bad or good.