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Comment by meowface | Hacker News Reader

How did these guys think they could keep the con running for so long? Being lawyers, you'd think they'd have some common sense.

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Being lawyers they have enough common sense to do the math and figure out that the cost of being caught would never outweigh the profits. At that point the only incentive is to make as much money as possible for as long as you can.

I don't know about that - is ~10 years in federal prison worth a few million dollars (after splitting it between Hansmeier and other co-conspirators)? Also, they're not going to get to keep the money.

As lawyers, I'm betting they could make the same amount of money in the same timeframe practicing legitimately (or, knowing how these idiots operate, "semi-legitimately"), but without the federal prison time.

Nobody ever thinks they will get caught. "I'm too clever for that" is basic human reasoning. Some are, some aren't. The real question is, are you willing to risk it?

Eh, years in a federal jail cell seems like it's not worth even $1 billion to me. And they made a lot less than that.

>Being lawyers, you'd think they'd have some common sense.

You have obviously not known or worked for many lawyers. (Present company excepted, of course.)

I've seen a couple crackpot lawyers who think they can get out of anything because, after all, they're a lawyer. (Note that 99% of lawyers refuse to represent themselves.)

The lawyers refusing to represent themselves makes a lot of sense. With another lawyer you've got the potential to argue on appeal about your counsel, and they are also potentially freer to move and communicate than a hypothetical lawyer charged with a crime. Plus there's the network affect from your lawyer's additional experience and contacts throughout the system.

There's a lot of US district courts and judges. If a particular judge starts to ask pointed questions, just switch to another. Thats how they kept under the radar for so long.

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