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Comment by ransom1538 | Hacker News Reader

"The defendants are charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud."

WHY DO THIS. Each count of wire fraud is 20 years in prison [1]. If 9 counts are proven you are looking at a 180 years in prison. (life sentence). You are better off doing 2nd degree murder 3 times - at least it is a challenge to prove. Proving wire fraud sounds pretty simple - they just read a bunch of emails and text messages in court. Everyone will turn nasty on each other due to the harsh penalties. Wire fraud = bad times. Just be honest with your investors.

[1] https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/wire-fraud.h...

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This is inaccurate in two ways.

First, 20 years is the maximum guideline sentence available for wire fraud. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines has a points-like system (with points added for various attributes of the crime, like whether the accused took steps to conceal their crime, or crossed some dollar threshold) that heavily counts the prior criminal history of the accused. This is an egregious wire fraud case, but it's still a little unlikely that any one count will see the maximum sentence applied.

More importantly, the norm in federal sentencing is for similar charges to group, and for the longest of those counts to set the sentence. It is not the norm to serve (here) each of the "nine counts" consecutively.

Google [whale sushi sentence] for more details.

+1 Thanks man. Amazing article.

https://www.popehat.com/2013/02/05/crime-whale-sushi-sentenc...

Yahoo agrees, Elisabeth faces 20 years in jail https://finance.yahoo.com/news/theranos-founder-elizabeth-ho...

> WHY DO THIS

They don't think they will get caught. For a live example, see HN's cryptocurrency threads. A common theme is talk about faking KYC or laundering money or how their scam is too small to garner federal attention.

Where?

I think that people can succumb to their egoes, similar to why some celebrities commit sexual crimes or are know for doing unthinkably rude actions. Something changes in people who acquire enough power and have the right combination of exceptional drive and sociopathy - which I think can incubate in an environment where they're in control over everyone and never told "no". It's the same mechanism in narcissistic people who hurt others and deny it and even turn it around and play the victim. Somehow they believe in a different version of reality. In Holmes' case I doubt she ever believed she was perpetrating a crime.

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