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

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

#61

Post by dkyc »

notch656a wrote: post #57
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…

The average American may earn something like 125k in 30 months. 700k in exchange for a small chance of 30 months in jail probably sounds like a good deal to a purely rational and amoral person.

The average American likely isn't in a position to make business spending decisions that would warrant a 700k bribe, though.

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

#62

Post by bgirard »

notch656a wrote: post #57
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…

The average American may earn something like 125k in 30 months. 700k in exchange for a small chance of 30 months in jail probably sounds like a good deal to a purely rational and amoral person.

But it's not usually the average American in a position to receive bribes like that. 700K for an executive might not be a good deal for most.

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

#63

Post by bumby »

0x0nyandesu wrote: post #32

I love how it's totally legal for the governor of Florida to send lucrative drug testing contracts to his wife's owned company but a guy getting a few stock options from a client is illegal. I guess we'll just go back to big wads of cash in an envelope instead.

I had to look that up because I’m not familiar with the story, but it seems illegal in most other states. This Netflix case, by contrast, is federal. Still makes the Gov. actions seem sketchy

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

#64

Post by jjulius »

notch656a wrote: post #57
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…

The average American may earn something like 125k in 30 months. 700k in exchange for a small chance of 30 months in jail probably sounds like a good deal to a purely rational and amoral person.

Edit: Half-awake, math wrong, ignore me.

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

#65

Post by 0x0nyandesu »

notch656a wrote: post #57
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…

The average American may earn something like 125k in 30 months. 700k in exchange for a small chance of 30 months in jail probably sounds like a good deal to a purely rational and amoral person.

The average executive in a high money industry like film is clearing a lot more than that and is looking for any and all advantages that come from the position. It can come in any form from having a company car to getting an executive producer credit on some show they actually didn't produce. You're naive if you actually think this doesn't happen everyday in the film industry / culture. That's just business and it's part of the free market. I don't see how any of this is any business of the feds.

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

#66

Post by notch656a »

bgirard wrote: post #62
notch656a wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average American may earn something like 125k in 30 months. 700k in exchange for a small chance of 30 months in jail probably sounds like a good deal to a purely rational and amoral person.

But it's not usually the average American in a position to receive bribes like that. 700K for an executive might not be a good deal for most.

Depends on the probability of being caught, which is usually extremely low.

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

#67

Post by 8ytecoder »

shadowgovt wrote: post #18
parhamn wrote: post #14

Some of the vendors mentioned: - VistaraIT, LLC - Platfora, Inc. - Sumo Logic, Inc - ElasticBox, Inc - Numerify, Inc. - Docurated, Inc - Maginatics, Inc. Is what they did illegal too? Presumably with zero chance of being charged. I haven't fully groked the limits of 'fraud' and 'money laundering' here in the US. These typically feel like they should be civil breach of fiduciary duty type cases.

IANAL, but in general: yes. Someone should be on the hook for paying bribes as well as for receiving them. At least, that's what every training on corporate bribery I've ever seen asserts.

Not just should, they usually are. But I would also assume prosecutors use discretion to decide whether to charge them or not based on whether they do it as a pattern, whether they’re in their jurisdiction and whether they were coerced. I read this to mean one or multiple of it didn’t hold.

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

#68

Post by captainoats »

hermannj314 wrote: post #42

Can someone with more legal expertise explain why he is charged with wire fraud and not "accepting a kickback"? Is it legal to take bribes if you do it in a way that doesn't create wire fraud? Was the crime taking kickbacks or was the crime being paid in a certain way (i.e. the LLC he created)?

Specific anti-kickback laws only exist at the federal level for specific industries within federal purview like healthcare (through departments like CMS). Wire fraud is more general but is an avenue for the justice department to prosecute behavior like this (the crime is not specific to orchestrating a kickback scheme but defrauding his employer for personal gain).

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

#69

Post by zapataband1 »

president wrote: post #55
vmception wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or not trying to normalize but pointing out that its already normalized to the point that you can’t be an effective employee due to competition with people winning deal flow via kickbacks The actions in question occurred almost 10 years ago, how many people lost commissions and bonuses and promotions and jobs and relationships by trying to play fair? acknowledging this isn’t being an apologist for it or condoning it…

Yes, this is effectively a race to the bottom situation and is a form of corruption of the rule of law. In today's world, we tend to have a culture of "letting things slide" and all this does is gradually normalize and escalate breaking the law over a long period of time.

Cost of wage theft by employers is 3 times the total cost of burglaries. There's a few articles about wage theft over the year and probably 100 a day about burglaries. White collar crime does not pay.

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

#70

Post by lowkey_ »

0x0nyandesu wrote: post #58
lowkey_ wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For another example, look at how college bribery schemes are illegal. They're not illegal because they're unfair or immoral, they're illegal because the administrator is selling the spot that the college owns; it's not his/her spot to sell. If the company wanted to be used by Netflix in exchange for equity, then they could make a deal with Netflix itself. This executive was essentially selling the rights to contracts…

You mean like forcing kids to buy brand new books so that they can get a code to use to take tests on an online platform that the professor gets kickbacks from that has nothing to do with the university the kid is attending?

What's the spot/contract/etc in that case, that the professor is selling but doesn't have the right to sell on behalf of the university for his own enrichment?

I don't see an example of how the university is losing revenue and being defrauded in that scenario.

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