Depends on what the victim wants for her silence. If it takes $5 million to get her free of him and she’s cool with keeping it quiet, then I’m cool too. I really don’t worry about a hypothetical “next victim,” because throwing him in jail won’t change that. Most abusers abuse when they get out of prison, so the key is getting this woman clear. I’ll pass on the cash.
Call me a cynic but since most of these victims go back to their abusers anyway; it wouldn’t take a whole lot of cash to shut me up.
I don’t think any amount of money would be enough, not for this - every time I spent any of it, I’d feel like shit and remember the poor woman getting the crap beaten out of her. Unless we can fix the hypothetical and I get to give her enough money that she leaves him and lives happily ever after or something. (ETA: And then it becomes her choice as to whether she calls the police - but at least then she has a real choice.)
Even then, it would still annoy me that he thought he could buy his way out of trouble; that’s not the way things ought to work.
In this situation, I’d ask for the money, then call the cops and add the charge of bribing a witness.
How much is he worth? Presumably with tens or hundreds of millions, I could hire lawyers just as good as his. If I take him for most of what he has, I could hire better lawyers! Or at least more lawyers. Though I seriously doubt the type of legal team you get for $20 million is actually better than one you can get for $10 million. (O.J. Simpson’s defense cost between $3 and $6 million, so for $10 million plus, I could have the guy killed and get away with it and still have enough to live comfortably!)
I personally would never speak to myself again if I didn’t turn him in.
The fact that he’s famous and wealthy, and that he insulted me by trying to buy me off, would only strengthen my resolve to nail him to the wall.
I would try to get as much money as possible so I chose 10 million. I guess I might be able to get by on that.
…looking for a way to take the money AND screw the bastard…
Actually, If I had pictures and\or video of him in the act, that would probably fetch me as much on the market as the bastard could pay.
Kill him and sue his estate for the trouble.
Well, probably not kill him, but I would have to agree with Czarcasm on this one. Call the cops ASAP.
A person of this caliber is going to put a bullet of another caliber through your brain before they ever consider paying you off.
They will leave the gun and take the cannoli.
£530
You get a cookie if you know where that’s from.
Take as much as I could get out of him (10 million or more if he’s willing enough to part with it), with the stipulation that he give the same amount to her as well. Then donate the bulk of my half to charity. I think trading one woman’s bruises for saving the lives of hundreds of other people is a good trade, but I am also fairly utilitarian and cold-hearted.
Is “cave his head in with a baseball bat” an option? If not, I copy the video evidence, inform the police and then propose using the trade as a way to get even more evidence with which to hang the bastard.
I’m not sure how much of this is being “untouchable”, as opposed to simple hatred of his kind.
I would call the police and sell the video/pictures I took with my cell phone to the National Enquirer or TMZ or Perez Hilton. That way I get to both profit **and ** save the victim.
'bout tree-fitty
What, is there a goddamn sale on abused women reporters?!
I call the police while uploading the video.
Having made a thorough study of Agatha Christie and her peers, I’m aware that any cooperation or postponement means I’m the next victim in the library. If he pays me any money - then I’m the blackmailer, and now he’s got me in his power.
I chose “I’d ask for something else”. If he were able to suggest some arrangement which would guarantee that he’d never again be able to abuse anyone, I’d take him up on the offer. But he’d have to come up with something good, because I can’t think of anything that’d suffice.
Sorry having lived and survived a physical abuser there is no way he would not get slammed. I would have been filming him assaulting her and reporting him, and emailing the footage to a major media outlet as well as the DA. I would want as many people to know him for the abusive asshole he really is.
What’s the legality of not reporting a crime like this taking place? I don’t need money, just leave me the hell out of it.
“How do you sleep at night?!”
“On a big pile of money surrounded by beautiful laidies.”
-McBaine