Escalation of commitment / commitment bias / sunk costs are what you're looking for. Agree, I've observed this 'cover it up with a bigger lie' thing happen. Mad

Escalation of commitment / commitment bias / sunk costs are what you're looking for. Agree, I've observed this 'cover it up with a bigger lie' thing happen. Madoff's scheme is a similar one, and that judge story in sibling comment is great example. These things are almost always comical/tragic in nature.