Hacker News Reader

Comment by onion2k | Hacker News Reader

I don't really understand the mentality of people who do this sort of criminal activity. If he'd stopped after, say, $5m and just retired he'd probably have managed to get away with it. Continuing to such a ridiculous degree through sheer greed led him to a death sentence. That's just plain stupid.

View on HN

In for a penny, in for a pound. Unless you are extremely crafty, you don’t get to retire from this sort of criminality. Everyone who enabled you wants more and you have a semi-permanent metaphorical sword hanging over your head.

Unless you are extremely crafty, you don’t get to retire from this sort of criminality.

He got away with it for 30 years. That shows at least some level of craftiness.

Or you use your single digit millions of currency to buy an island and retire for a decade or two while everyone forgets you exist

One does not simply move money out of China

The options increase when you’re already breaking the law.

They will send people after you at some point like they did to Vadym Yermolaiev

China killed him?

His own people tried to

Cryptocurrency or GPUs. Both are fairly easy to obtain and even easier to move out.

> Everyone who enabled you wants more

And once you've taken the first bribe, they now have leverage.

> Unless you are extremely crafty, you don’t get to retire from this sort of criminality.

You should come to [insert your favourite EU country here].

The culture of bribes is a bit different in China. 'Mutually assured corruption' describes the situation better.

Once you start high-profile criminal activity you have to keep doing it to pay off the right people, as soon as you retire you're fucked.

People get away with this all the time—you just only hear about the stupid ones.

$2 million in cash flushed down the toilet, manually, that clogged the sanitation system was a very stupid funny one.

This kind of crime means you develop a network around you that won't stop having expectations of you just because you think you have enough for your eventual retirement.

They'll basically be your friends, partners and coworkers. Making a sudden change in how you associate with each other can have rather negative consequences, ranging from anxiety to them trying to murder you.

I think your logic makes sense, if this was both logical and about the money. But it seems to be more about greed, discontentment, and "more". There is no limit to "more".

It's the wielding of power which is intoxicating, the monetary amount just illustrates how many decisions he could personally influence.

It's called greed, as you aptly pointed out.

Think of Breaking Bad. His wife literally asked him this same question. When is it enough?

It's a mentality where you can't stop.

Yup, it's called greed. It's a part of human nature. That's one reason societies create laws and penalties: to discourage harmful behavior and keep that instinct in check.

Breaking Bad is a work of fiction.

This is load bearing guanxi

Reply on news.ycombinator.com