Comments on: Whistleblower Dilemma: Would You Do 3 Years in Prison for $20 Million?

By: Jojo

Jojo — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:02:36 +0000

Hell yes! Figure with time off for good behavior, the time might get reduced to 2 years. I’d do 2 years for 3 million. Wouldn’t care about voting or anything because I’d be moving outside the country on release anyway.

By: Best of January 2010 | Credit Guy

Best of January 2010 | Credit Guy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:44:05 +0000

[...] Whistleblower Dilemma: Would You Do 3 Years in Prison for $20 Million? / DarwinsFinance: It’s a very interesting dilemma indeed and I guess it all depends on how happy you are right now with your life. The older you are, the less likely you will want to mail in three years just for money but $20 Million doesn’t just set you up for life, it probably sets your family up. [...]

By: Best of January 2010 – The Dough Roller

Best of January 2010 – The Dough Roller — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:33:31 +0000

[...] most nerdy, uneventful life you could strive for was to study mathematics but who’s laughing now?Whistleblower Dilemma: Would You Do 3 Years in Prison for $20 Million? / DarwinsFinance: It’s a very interesting dilemma indeed and I guess it all depends on how happy [...]

By: Roger

Roger — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:01:21 +0000

For the general question of being willing to trade 40 months in prison for $20 million, I’m with Evan and many of the other commentators: it depends almost entirely on what type of prison. If there’s a very real chance that I won’t live through the prison term (or that I’ll have to join a prison gang just to protect myself), then no thank you. If I’m in a white collar/minimum security prison where the biggest risk is that my roommate spends all his time discussing the details of the convoluted investment scheme that got him put away, then sign me up. It definitely seems like a good trade to me, a half million for each month I’m in jail.

In this particular case, it seems like the only Birkenfield did wrong (besides participating in the fraud in the first place) was not come forward soon enough (or not be ‘transparent’ enough after coming forward). So on top of the money, he also gets to the good guy in the story (from the U.S. government’s point of view, at least); a flawed good guy, but still a good guy. Not a bad deal, from where I stand.

By: Weekend reading: Obama versus the banks

Weekend reading: Obama versus the banks — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:29:19 +0000

[...] Would you do prison for $20 million? – Darwins Finance [...]

By: Monevator

Monevator — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:20:05 +0000

I agree with Evan – if it was an open prison for white collar workers with very low inmate crime and vegetable gardens to rehabilitate us felons, yes I’d probably do three years for $20 million – especially if the deal was put like that (rather than ‘maybe $20 million’).

Like most people I’ve done shabby jobs for about that long. You can read books in prison, and write. $20 million buys you an incredible life afterwards.

I wouldn’t for a million or anything silly like that though, or if it was a prison where I had to decide whether to do or be done!

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:53:27 +0000

I would do 40 months for $100,000,000. $20 million is a raw deal. Although, if I lived in a non violent prison, maybe $50 mil. And probably $20 mil if I could go to the beach and have free wifi and a laptop and have weekends off!