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Comment by aaron695 | Hacker News Reader

If he is dealing with a government agent and receiving money then he has to report it at his work.

Even if he 'knows' it's an undercover US department.

So, they would and should still throw the book at him.

He'd be secretly dealing in 'data', fake or not, and money related to his classified job. Not hard to see that's very illegal. He would be leaking info as well just talking to them. They might collate speech structure that links him to other non classified/leaked projects. Or know where he lives or work hours.

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> If he is dealing with a government agent and receiving money then he has to report it at his work.

Has to, or get fired, and probably never have a security clearance again. But is it a criminal matter? No idea. (This hypothetical is probably not the most important part of this story, obviously, but it does seem to have captured our interest)

Lets take his job out of it- suppose it was all a lie, and he actually works as a cleaner? I cannot aee what law he wouod be breaking

I’m no lawyer but I do recall an episode of Cops waaaay back where a guy got busted for selling “weed” except it was actually oregano. He still got charged with something. But I can’t remember what.

All American States punish the sale of ersatz narcotics, under special statutes.

That makes sense. I was sort of thinking there’s likely something similar with regard to selling national secrets.

Thanks for pointing this out, i didnt know that, and it's really weired.

Did he end up doing hard thyme?

Don't know, but perhaps he was trying to fennel money?

I think it all stems from a misunderstanding between buyer and seller.

Mail fraud. Wire fraud. Attempt. Conspiracy.

Are they actually applicable?

Conspiracy requires intent, which has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt. Good luck convincing a jury that cleaner had intent to sell gov. secrets, and it wasnt a joke.

Fraud, entering into a contract without intent to fullfill it? I don't think it works if the obligations would be illegal

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