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Drugs are a bad analogy as production and mere possession are illegal. A better analogy: - Drugs are legal to possess, but the act of buying them is illegal

by pyre 14y ago

Drugs are a bad analogy as production and mere possession are illegal. A better analogy: - Drugs are legal to possess, but the act of buying them is illegal (in the US). - This guy makes an e-commerce software package designed specifically for selling drugs. - This guy only sells the software to companies in Amsterdam. - He's arrested because one of the companies in Amsterdam is selling illegally to US citizens. - The government puts a gun to his head and tells him to hack into his customers' websites in a scene straight out of Operation Swordfish I doubt that a lawyer would have helped him with this though. Unless I read the article wrong, he was being prosecuted/threatened in New York state, but was operating in the state of Arizona. He may be in accordance with all local (Arizona) laws, but was arrested and shipped off to New York state for some reason.

danielweber 14y ago
Gambling, like drugs, is heavily regulated. Maybe it shouldn't be, but it is, and this is well known by every American. You also wouldn't start a firearm company or a brewery or a boutique cigar manufacturing without hiring a lawyer. I don't know the law, and neither do you, and neither did this guy. If he had spent a few thousand of that $2.3 million on a lawyer he would be better informed and had someone on retainer. Maybe he would have found out some simple way to comply. Maybe he would have found out there was no way to comply. Maybe he would have found out that he was already completely complying and this is just your "Operation Swordfish" scenario. But, since Operation Swordfish has been brought up, I'm out.
- pyre 14y ago
  I do agree that this guy should have had a lawyer, even just as a go-to person for stuff relating to the law. He was running a business, and not consulting a lawyer from time to time is probably a bad idea. For example, if he was ever sued, he would want to have a lawyer on speed-dial, rather than flipping through the Yellowpages trying to find a lawyer while under stress. My general thought is that it's quite possible that his lawyer would not have foreseen this turn of events. His lawyer probably would have referenced local, state, and Federal law on this, but could have easily not seen that another state would try to prosecute him for his clients offering online gambling to residents of that state. (I think it goes without saying that a lawyer probably would not have foreseen the government offering him a plea bargain to commit a Federal -- and international -- crime in order to plead guilty to a lesser charge)

by pyre 14y ago

danielweber 14y ago

Gambling, like drugs, is heavily regulated. Maybe it shouldn't be, but it is, and this is well known by every American. You also wouldn't start a firearm company or a brewery or a boutique cigar manufacturing without hiring a lawyer. I don't know the law, and neither do you, and neither did this guy. If he had spent a few thousand of that $2.3 million on a lawyer he would be better informed and had someone on retainer. Maybe he would have found out some simple way to comply. Maybe he would have found out there was no way to comply. Maybe he would have found out that he was already completely complying and this is just your "Operation Swordfish" scenario. But, since Operation Swordfish has been brought up, I'm out.

pyre 14y ago
I do agree that this guy should have had a lawyer, even just as a go-to person for stuff relating to the law. He was running a business, and not consulting a lawyer from time to time is probably a bad idea. For example, if he was ever sued, he would want to have a lawyer on speed-dial, rather than flipping through the Yellowpages trying to find a lawyer while under stress. My general thought is that it's quite possible that his lawyer would not have foreseen this turn of events. His lawyer probably would have referenced local, state, and Federal law on this, but could have easily not seen that another state would try to prosecute him for his clients offering online gambling to residents of that state. (I think it goes without saying that a lawyer probably would not have foreseen the government offering him a plea bargain to commit a Federal -- and international -- crime in order to plead guilty to a lesser charge)