If you just had all the money in an account and immediately gave it back, I imagine you could get out of trouble. They issued the check, after all.

As soon as they contact you, just be all, “Oh my gosh! Yes!  I have it, what do I need to do to transfer it to you immediately?”

And then sit back and enjoy the 20 bucks you earned.

Maegan - 31 May 2007 07:33 PM

I was thinking just what FrostBird was thinking.  At least stick it into my savings account & let some interest rack up before I have to give it back.

Just take it to the casinos in Vegas and triple your money.  Nothing to it! 

Stargazer - 31 May 2007 08:17 PM

If you just had all the money in an account and immediately gave it back, I imagine you could get out of trouble. They issued the check, after all.

As soon as they contact you, just be all, “Oh my gosh! Yes!  I have it, what do I need to do to transfer it to you immediately?”

And then sit back and enjoy the 20 bucks you earned.

I’m guessing $2.5M would generage a lot of interest even in a modest savings account.  I would sort of take my time getting it back to them however.  Requesting appropriate paperwork, Identification, etc.. etc.. etc..  all the while being very “cooperative” yet “cautious” that I’m giving it back the correct party….

If they cashed the cheque and the counsellor was able to spend thousands on cars and jewellry, then the stupidity lies in not going to a non-extrradition country with the money. Swiss bank accounts exist for a reason

I’d take it, make sure they’d never find it by changing it to another medium, serve my jail time and then get it back when I got back out. But I’m not a decent person.

Renquist - 31 May 2007 09:46 PM

If they cashed the cheque and the counsellor was able to spend thousands on cars and jewellry, then the stupidity lies in not going to a non-extrradition country with the money. Swiss bank accounts exist for a reason

I’d take it, make sure they’d never find it by changing it to another medium, serve my jail time and then get it back when I got back out. But I’m not a decent person.

It’s very inexpensive to live in a fine hotel on the beach in Thailand.  And there’s always Costa Rica.  New identities are always available for a price.

Bebelicious - 31 May 2007 10:03 PM

Renquist - 31 May 2007 09:46 PM

If they cashed the cheque and the counsellor was able to spend thousands on cars and jewellry, then the stupidity lies in not going to a non-extrradition country with the money. Swiss bank accounts exist for a reason

I’d take it, make sure they’d never find it by changing it to another medium, serve my jail time and then get it back when I got back out. But I’m not a decent person.

It’s very inexpensive to live in a fine hotel on the beach in Thailand.  And there’s always Costa Rica.  New identities are always available for a price.

You’re my kind of thinker. Marry me and we’ll live a life of high society and higher crime, and retire in a couple of years to a warm country where our fortune will go further than we can imagine.

Whenever I watch movies where people are on the run w/ money…I always wonder why they don’t hop a plane to the first country w/ no extradition treaty w/ the US.  It just seems so logical.  Or…at least kill someone before you leave, so those countries that won’t extradite b/c your country believes in the death penalty will keep you.  (Is Canada one of those??  I thought maybe it was.)

I always wonder though, if they’ll just make you come back for the non-fatal crimes…

Maegan - 01 June 2007 12:32 PM

Whenever I watch movies where people are on the run w/ money…I always wonder why they don’t hop a plane to the first country w/ no extradition treaty w/ the US.  It just seems so logical.  Or…at least kill someone before you leave, so those countries that won’t extradite b/c your country believes in the death penalty will keep you.  (Is Canada one of those??  I thought maybe it was.)

I always wonder though, if they’ll just make you come back for the non-fatal crimes…

Canadian law won’t extradite while the death penalty is on the table, which leaves 2 options:
1)Remove the death penalty from the equation and have them extradited on the murder charge with the assurance they’ll not get executed
2) Have them extradited for a lesser charge, like the theft of the money. Then they’re not extraditing on a charge for which there’s a death penalty

I wouldn’t do that. I don’t want to serve a life sentence while my loot lies waiting. I’d have it transferred to an offshore account and leave the country. If you fancied you could bribe an official in another country to fabricate an alter ego for you; new passport, birth certificate, whole new history via official records. In some countries the very-higher-ups are for sale. With all that and growing a moustache or something you could re-enter the UK or the US and live there happily on the money (if there was enough) instead of spending the rest of your like in a far away land.

But if I grew a mustache…I’d probably look even MORE suspicious. 

Thanks for explaining the death penalty thing for me…otherwise…well let’s not think about that any more. 

I did find this interesting map on wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_the_United_States_has_extradition_treaties_with

Heh.  Now…if I could just find one where I can keep speaking English.  What’s that little place north of Australia?

I do believe it’s Papua.

Huh. Andorra doesn’t extradite. Andorra’s as cheap as dirt because it has no VAT on anything (smuggler’s haven). Neither does the Vatican. Must be all that forgiveness.

Well if you go to Papua New Guinea, you need to be mindful that you don’t end up as a human sacrifice.