Yep… and recommended by the FDIC. Also…
8 Likes
But if you factor in the 50 years of prison, the legitimate business model is actually the more profitable one.
That said, yes, stealing goods and selling them for pure profit is a great business model, but only if you incorporate the golden rule of criminality into that model: don’t get caught (and, if that fails, don’t get convicted).
A good way to not get caught is to not work for law enforcement*, but since the grift hinges on that, this guy’s grave was as good as dug the moment when he first took those fajitas for himself.
* or maybe that’s the best way to not get caught, if the whole system is corrupt. But if corruption is rampant, you probably don’t need to avoid getting caught: you just need to pay off the folks doing the catching.
5 Likes
I am always amazed that criminals don’t seem to know when to quit. Drug dealers are the best examples-- I remember reading about one guy who made a million dollars in a single shipment, and kept going, and of course got caught. Maybe Mr. Fajita could have gotten away with it if he’d quit sooner, or maybe someone would have eventually noticed something anyway.
Of course that’s easy for me to say, when I’m not the one watching the money roll in.
[additional thought: I do recall one story, maybe apocryphal, of guy the IRS came after, trying to account for his income several years earlier. He admitted he had been selling drugs during that time, but because the statute of limitations had run out they couldn’t prosecute him for the crime. I assume they still hit him for back taxes.]
6 Likes
They can scam $1.2 million in a day. It took this guy almost a decade to manage it. The bigger the scale of your con, the more likely you are to get away with it; it’s a cliché, but it’s true. (See the financial crisis, where only a few heads of the smallest independent banks saw prosecution - for doing exactly what the big institutions were doing without consequences.)
Clearly he was running a wholesale fajita retail operation. He couldn’t get rid of it otherwise.
He must have had arrangements with a good number of restaurants and/or other vendors. I can’t imagine a single restaurant using even 100 pounds a day, so we must be talking about dozens of customers.
5 Likes
Fajita Scam is the name of my new band
8 Likes
50 years does sound steep for a non-violent crime, but redirecting hundreds of thousands of dollars meant to feed children (even children who committed crimes) is pretty low.
I guess if he had quit someone might have noticed that the kitchen suddenly had a lot more money available for feeding inmates?
12 Likes
We’ll, true.
But as I recall, she got busted for lying to the Feds.
2 Likes
50 sounds like a lot but remember, with good behaviour and parole, he’ll probably be out in 30 …
2 Likes
The exception proves the rule. There are extremely few insider trading prosecutions, despite the fact that hedge funds are basically built on it. Fact is Steven Cohen was never indicted and if I recall he’s about to get his trading license back.
2 Likes
True, and per wiki, that was one of a number of charges, “…including conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding…” with all of that stemming from her insider trading.
2 Likes
Holy mother of moly!
1 Like
I wonder if this has anything to do with:
That is to say, it’s easier to pinpoint just one person/entity getting ripped off, but siphoning from everyone at the same time? –no one notices… nobody feels ripped off relative to everybody else.
1 Like
Sure. Or he threw out what he couldn’t sell. It’s not like he would lose money if he did.
50 years is insane, there are countless cases of murderers serving half that.
6 Likes
Photo of 1.2 million dollar fajita checks out.
1.2m/(365*8) ~ 411 bux an 800lb. pop.
50cents a pound, redelivered.
Tell me this isn’t cultural appropriation. […Bikes 30 miles to work?]
1 Like
The feds love to periodically trot out some high profile, but relatively small time, inside trader. It burnishes the illusion of equal justice and that the market is well policed and safe for the little guy.
3 Likes
Many backs were scratched, careers to nurture… and perhaps a few people extorted.
2 Likes
Damn. I’m not saying the guy doesn’t need to make restitution and serve a few years in the big house, but 50 years?! I could – without a criminal record – go murder someone in cold blood and probably plea out to 25.
3 Likes
On the bright side, at least they were real fajitas and not knockoffs.
1 Like
