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> Frankly, you don't really want to live in a world where the government can impose criminal penalties on businesses for such loose facts as these.

We're already there. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8519060 It might help if we spread the cheer to more high-end criminals.



To the contrary, the facts in that case are a slam dunk. You have a box full of hard evidence, and the crime of selling counterfeit goods has no particularly onerous intent requirement. The crime is predicated on an objectively verifiable fact: are the goods licensed or not? Meanwhile, what's the difference between a legitimate financial transaction and a fraudulent one? You can't tell just by reading the deal documents. Ideally someone slips up in an email that reveals their knowledge and intent, but usually you're stuck building a case on circumstantial evidence.




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