
A Wall Street Informant Who Double-Crossed the FBI - chollida1
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-23/-bro-i-m-going-rogue-the-wall-street-informant-who-double-crossed-the-fbi
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droithomme
Good article. But I don't agree with the title that he "double-crossed the
FBI". According to the article he did everything they asked him, and in the
end they double crossed him, and he then mounted a successful defense.

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Bartweiss
Agreed. Even without promising Gentile a deal, the fact that they needed to
groom him on how to lie to their own auditors (seemingly about entrapment, as
well as the various breaks with protocol) speaks to a failure on their end
first.

"In two years they’d spent a few hundred thousand dollars on expenses, Gentile
says, including about $15,000 for his travel. The agents told him that an
investigator would be asking him some questions, and they wanted to go over
what to say... They advised him to say he hadn’t directed any criminal
activity. (“Of course I did,” Gentile says.) And they said not to mention his
gun."

That's not an account of a properly-handled operation with an unreliable
informant. Gentile appears to be a bit round the bend, but that's not the only
thing wrong here.

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trendia
Does anyone know how Bloomberg magazine is funded? It seems to produce very
high-quality articles that are provided for free (unlike WSJ which has a very
aggressive paywall).

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ryankennedyio
Bloomberg LP makes roughly 8 billion in revenue from selling their terminal to
300,000 subscribers (25,000 per annum).

I feel like the Bloomberg magazine is just a way to reinforce their status as
the top disseminator of financial news, so that financial firms don't really
think of the other options when looking for new data/terminal subscriptions,
because Bloomberg is always "there".

Strange model. It's kind of like, a pretty high quality product you get for
free, paid for by the people who purchase the really-really-expensive product.

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mabbo
> 300,000 subscribers (25,000 per annum)

Crazy, unverified statistic I heard- around 20% of those users only use that
subscription for access to their AOL instant messenger clone. All trades are
on it, so you've got to be on it too. Walled garden to the extreme.

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ska
People gladly pay that to be certain they are dealing with other people who
have paid that, exclusively. That is, after all, the classic function of
walled gardens (and private parties, clubs, etc.)

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gens
> They bought Gentile a bacon cheeseburger and a Diet Coke ..

I don't even.. Is this normal in the USofA or are they just denying him sugar,
while feeding him, to pacify him ?

edit: but the cheeseburger already has plenty of sugar and the coke has
caffeine. idk

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devopsproject
No. But if you want someone to cooperate with you, the carrot can work better
than the stick.

