Email Stupidity

Washington super-lobbyist Michael Scanlon has pleaded guilty to charges he conspired to defraud Indian tribes of more than $19 million.

Why did he not take his case to trial? Probably because of a series of emails to partner Jack Abramoff in which he expressed boundless glee at pulling off his scam."I want all their money!!!" he declared in one. "Weeez gonna be rich!!!" read another.

Despite the number of big timers currently dressed in brightly colored prison jumpsuits because of a poor email decision, people continue to archive their felonious feelings as bits and bytes on some anonymous computer. Why?

First is hubris. Every one of them believes their scam is so impenetrable that there's no reason for discretion. Aren't they smarter than some $60,000-a-year FBI agent or assistant U.S. Attorney? The answer usually comes to them as a pistol-packing civil servant grabs their arm and guides them through a perp walk.

Sometimes they actually believe it's perfectly OK to bribe, steal and cheat so they don't care what they write. Many criminal defense attorneys prefer representing professional killers to working with white-collar crooks because they are tired of hearing: "Everybody does it. Why are they picking on me?"

A prosecutor once told me, "If it wasn't for snitches and the generally stupid behavior of crooks I'd be out of work." He might want to add 'email trails' to the list. Or is that part of the stupidity factor?