Online Feuds and Senseless Rivalries

Most people know what a social media entrepreneur is, right? Anyone can gain fame and financial success if they market the right thing, at the right time, in the right way that gets shared a zillion times by a zillion people. Easier said than done.

When one of those entrepreneurs repeatedly promotes their ability to teach you how to do what they do and possibly make a lot of money like they have, it’s a temptation few struggling businesspeople can resist.

Behind the façade of an ideal life, is a lot of stress to stay at the top of their game because the fame and wealth can all be gone as quickly as it arrived.

The pressure can lead some people to crack, as it must’ve done to the woman in this true crime. At the peak of her online business, she had a falling out with a competitor, which led her to phone a friend and ask her to meet to discuss a business opportunity. The woman’s business opportunity was hiring the friend and her husband to kill three people for her—her ex-boyfriend, a person making negative comments on social media about the woman’s business, and the competitor. She offered $20,000 per person with a bonus of $5,000 to kill the competitor asap.

The friend and her husband didn’t hesitate to contact the authorities and tell them about the murder-for-hire plot. They recorded a phone call between the two friends confirming the job and the pay. Then they sent the desperate entrepreneur fake photos of an incident with law enforcement’s presence and told her they’d tried to kill the competitor but were unsuccessful and wanted half of the promised pay. The woman paid the couple $10,000.

A grand jury indicted the woman and her husband for ‘Use of Interstate Facility in Commission of Murder-for-Hire.’ They went on trial. In court for one week, the jury acquitted the husband but found the wife guilty. A federal judge sentenced the once-thriving and successful 35-year-old woman to ten years in prison and three years of supervised release after serving her term. The federal court system doesn’t allow for early release.

A U.S. Attorney associated with this case said,

“This was a twenty-first century crime where online feuds and senseless rivalries bled into the real world.”

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, People, CBS News, New York Post

All data and information provided is for information and research purposes only and not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Criminal cases may have been appealed or verdicts overturned since I researched the case. All information is provided on an as-is basis.