[i_like_pie1]

had similar POV but changing my mind after talking with someone this AM

their POV is that this is net good for society. outcome we want = no crime

how to deter? 1/ big punishment for main actor 2/ get complicit actors to cooperate

and so by giving plea deals the gov shows that cooperation can save you

[kaibee]

Yeah... but otoh, being a lower level peon shouldn't be a get out of jail free card. The incentive is then 'well as long as i flip on the big guy if he gets caught, i can make some nice piles of money in the mean time and maybe i can exit before it blows up anyway'

[red-iron-pine]

she wasn't a lower level peon, she had actual rank, and enough education and experience to know what's going on.

and she got a sweet deal, but she's not getting away scott-free, and will likely see real prison time and huge fines. yeah she may have another $2 million hidden away as Monero somewhere, but her career is busted -- no one is ever going to trust her after this -- and if the Feds get wind of cash they didn't know about that could end in more charges.

it certainly isn't a get out of jail free card, just a "dont spend 60 years in prison" card.

[grvdrm]

>but her career is busted -- no one is ever going to trust her after this

Don't forget -> book deal. She's still capable of making money off the outcome and transitioning into a career as more of an evangelist for what NOT to do.

[dragonwriter]

> Yeah... but otoh, being a lower level peon shouldn't be a get out of jail free card.

The other involved principals pled guilty to multiple federal felonies, and are likely to spend at least some time in prison even if their sentencing gives them large reductions in what their sentence for those crimes otherwise would be for their cooperation.

[shadowgovt]

> being a lower level peon shouldn't be a get out of jail free card

At some point, every society has to decide where to draw the line at "this much punishment is enough punishment" when the crime is basically setting value on fire. If you don't, you end up with the whole society on trial ("Why aren't we prosecuting the people who gave them the money? Surely had they done their homework, they would have known...").

... and we end up drawing the line slightly on the side of "let the least-powerful guilty go" because there's heavy incentive to get them to turn on their bosses so our society can hold the most powerful (most equipped to hide their bad behavior and understand how to subvert the law) accountable at all. This is very much a problem at the intersection of justice and the realpolitik of enforcement.

(... technically, every German citizen was a Nazi. They didn't end World War II by nuking Germany until it glowed).