WHY "BILLIONS" SHOULD BE REQUIRED OF ALL COMPLIANCE OFFICERS

If you live in the United States & Canada, and you are not a regular viewer of the Showtime cable series "Billions," you should take the time to catch up on the prior episodes, and become a regular. Why ? In these times of strict enforcement, there is a distinct possibility that, as a bank compliance officer, you may, one day soon, see someone your work with, or know personally, run afoul of Federal Law, and have to deal with the consequences.

The program, though at times overly dramatic, offers a view of the dark side of the criminal justice system, where serious white collar crime is involved. If you are not aware of how law enforcement agents, and US Attorneys, deal harshly with targets that they have turned into confidential informants, it is a wake-up call for anyone who has not witnessed the behind-the-scenes maneuvering, raw confrontations, and moment of truth, when informants must betray the trust of someone they know well, this program serves as a primer on the sordid side of justice.

Is it Scared Straight for potential white collar criminals, for deterrence purposes ? Absolutely. Let us hope that, after watching several episodes, any banker who ever considered willful blindness will be cured of those thoughts; that they see what happens to an individual who gets caught up in the nasty world of criminal law. I have a very thick skin, from serving in Vietnam, as well as  ten years I spent in a dirty profession, and it was a shock to me; imagine how it would affect you.

Watch this show; it will not bore you, and it will teach you some things they don't talk about in graduate school.