4 ms·

Covert bribery is definitely frowned upon. Overt bribery - hiring lobbyists, event sponsorships, regulatory capture, etc - is very popular, I'd even say it's mo

Covert bribery is definitely frowned upon. Overt bribery - hiring lobbyists, event sponsorships, regulatory capture, etc - is very popular, I'd even say it's more so than in other countries.

CydeWeys 6y ago
Do you really think that someone with $1B of Bitcoin could buy their way out of the kinds of serious felony criminal charges mentioned in the linked article through campaign contributions and similar? I doubt it.
- strgcmc 6y ago
  IMO the short answer is, yes pardons can seemingly be bought in the Trumpian era of American politics. Whether $1B is enough, I don't necessarily know, but I don't see why the likelihood is something to dismiss out of hand.
  - klodolph 6y ago
    $1B is enough, but you have to be spending it on the bribes before you get caught. Once you get caught your options are limited.
  - denkmoon 6y ago
    Just having $1B isn't enough. 1B gets you in the door. You still need to know the right people to pay off. You can't just google it. This is why you see all the billionaires at their billionaire parties, good old networking.
  - pessimizer 6y ago
    It's got nothing to do with Trump, here's Clinton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Rich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Rich Trump tends to pardon the people who will get him into the news cycle, like sadistic war criminals, corrupt or openly racist officials like Blagojevich and Arpaio, or whoever Kim Kardashian told him to.
  - 55555 6y ago
    Let's not make Trump seem responsible for our incredibly overtly corrupt country. Bill Clinton was a democrat, was president before Trump, and is notorious for his seemingly-corrupt pardons. I'm no history buff so I can't go back further than my own lifespan for further examples but I bet America has been this way for a long, long time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_pardon_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_pardon_controvers... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bill_Clinton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bil...
    - jollofricepeas 6y ago
      Ehh, don’t believe every political talking point you hear. You should read Swiss investigative journalist, Daniel Amman’s King of Oil. The furor over these pardons including the Marc Rich pardon was 100% political. Clinton pardoned relatively the same amount of people as previous presidents but with a heavy focus on “leftists.” Also, Marc Rich had left the US before he started working across trade embargoes and singlehandedly built the OTC oil market. He also worked actively with the US on covert oil sales while being prosecuted by the DOJ. Read: - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Oil https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Oil
      - 55555 6y ago
        I started reading his book but got distracted. Thank you. I'll pick it back up.
- ryanlol 6y ago
  Of course they could, they’d just need to temporarily move to a friendlier jurisdiction while working on this.
- alasdair_ 6y ago
  I think that yes, it would be possible, especially if the person with the money was already in contact with organized crime at the level where they have a steady enough cocaine supply to sell it by the kilo (as was happening on Silk Road). Going through a few intermediaries, I don't see a reason why a presidential pardon in exchange for $100MM in crypto couldn't be arranged either, especially in the dying hours of a presidency. Obviously this is all silly spy novel stuff, but a reasonably intelligent person with mid-level or better criminal connections and literally a billion dollars to work with, coupled with a hell of a lot of motivation, could probably figure out something. All that being said, outside of real political backing (i.e. continual payments every month), I'd doubt the person would remain free for very long after the deal was done.

Covert bribery is definitely frowned upon. Overt bribery - hiring lobbyists, event sponsorships, regulatory capture, etc - is very popular, I'd even say it's more so than in other countries.

CydeWeys 6y ago

Do you really think that someone with $1B of Bitcoin could buy their way out of the kinds of serious felony criminal charges mentioned in the linked article through campaign contributions and similar? I doubt it.

strgcmc 6y ago
IMO the short answer is, yes pardons can seemingly be bought in the Trumpian era of American politics. Whether $1B is enough, I don't necessarily know, but I don't see why the likelihood is something to dismiss out of hand.
- klodolph 6y ago
  $1B is enough, but you have to be spending it on the bribes before you get caught. Once you get caught your options are limited.
- denkmoon 6y ago
  Just having $1B isn't enough. 1B gets you in the door. You still need to know the right people to pay off. You can't just google it. This is why you see all the billionaires at their billionaire parties, good old networking.
- pessimizer 6y ago
  It's got nothing to do with Trump, here's Clinton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Rich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Rich Trump tends to pardon the people who will get him into the news cycle, like sadistic war criminals, corrupt or openly racist officials like Blagojevich and Arpaio, or whoever Kim Kardashian told him to.
- 55555 6y ago
  Let's not make Trump seem responsible for our incredibly overtly corrupt country. Bill Clinton was a democrat, was president before Trump, and is notorious for his seemingly-corrupt pardons. I'm no history buff so I can't go back further than my own lifespan for further examples but I bet America has been this way for a long, long time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_pardon_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_pardon_controvers... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bill_Clinton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bil...
  - jollofricepeas 6y ago
    Ehh, don’t believe every political talking point you hear. You should read Swiss investigative journalist, Daniel Amman’s King of Oil. The furor over these pardons including the Marc Rich pardon was 100% political. Clinton pardoned relatively the same amount of people as previous presidents but with a heavy focus on “leftists.” Also, Marc Rich had left the US before he started working across trade embargoes and singlehandedly built the OTC oil market. He also worked actively with the US on covert oil sales while being prosecuted by the DOJ. Read: - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Oil https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Oil
    - 55555 6y ago
      I started reading his book but got distracted. Thank you. I'll pick it back up.
ryanlol 6y ago
Of course they could, they’d just need to temporarily move to a friendlier jurisdiction while working on this.
alasdair_ 6y ago
I think that yes, it would be possible, especially if the person with the money was already in contact with organized crime at the level where they have a steady enough cocaine supply to sell it by the kilo (as was happening on Silk Road). Going through a few intermediaries, I don't see a reason why a presidential pardon in exchange for $100MM in crypto couldn't be arranged either, especially in the dying hours of a presidency. Obviously this is all silly spy novel stuff, but a reasonably intelligent person with mid-level or better criminal connections and literally a billion dollars to work with, coupled with a hell of a lot of motivation, could probably figure out something. All that being said, outside of real political backing (i.e. continual payments every month), I'd doubt the person would remain free for very long after the deal was done.