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A few years ago, I sat on the jury for a district court trial for a fraud/conspiracy case that involved wire and mail fraud. The USPIS was integral to the prosecution, which seemed amusing at first, but I learned that you simply do NOT fuck with USPS.
It was a two-week trial, and when I was selected for the jury, I was disappointed to lose two weeks of my life to something I thought would be deeply boring -- but I learned a LOT from the trial. I still think about the case when a Trump crony makes the news.
Grifters follow a lot of the same patterns, because these patterns are pretty effective -- but only as long as the people being defrauded haven't knowingly encountered other grifters. You develop an ear for their bullshit after a while.
The prosecution brought in dozens of victims to testify about how the defendant had defrauded them, and every one of them was devastated to have been exploited. Some of them gave the defendant their entire retirement savings only to learn he just... spent it on himself.
Literally everything they heard from everyone involved was a complete fabrication. There was never any money, there would never be a payout or an ROI. The bank "proof" was forged. This person lied, played on their fears, stole their money, and then bailed.
I'm sure some people Bannon defrauded are upset to discover they've been used -- but honestly? I bet more are too engulfed in their cognitive dissonance to think this is anything other than "fake news."
During the trial, I was amazed at just how not-bright everyone involved in the grift was. They were charming and good at talking their way into money and out of tough spots, but they weren't playing 4D chess. This is probably my biggest take-away from that trial.
I'm sure there are very smart grifters out there who may never get caught, but honestly I think most of them are too busy being greedy to be very careful.
Anyway, don't give your life savings to strangers, especially if you meet them at church. If it sounds too good to be true, it 100% is.
And if you gave money to Steve Bannon to build a wall because you're a xenophobic, racist shithead, you probably deserved to be defrauded.
And if you gave money to Steve Bannon to build a wall because you're a xenophobic, racist shithead, you probably deserved to be defrauded.
Don't give money to people routing their fundraisers through random PO boxes! omg how https://twitter.com/KyleClark/status/1296492717422325760
