Lets see if I've got this straight.

The DA makes a bunch of vague threats, and the crooks choke up ten million bucks in a settlement. No charges are revealed, much less actually filed, and nobody gets prosecuted. I wonder if the terms of the settlement were "sealed" in the usual manner?

The ten million settlement gets the DA more publicity than he could buy with ten million paid directly into his campaign chest, come next election time; and of course that amount probably wouldn't be a "legal" contribution.

Do I smell politics?, extortion?, skirting campaign funding laws? (if there are any in NY), political kickbacks?, bribery?...

I guess if you're as crooked as Sony appears to be (from this and other recent news) you probably have to expect to make a few payoffs, sometimes under less than voluntary terms.

My suspicion is they're all *crooks on both sides of this, but then I'm old enough to deserve to be a bit cynical.

*synonyms: politician = executive = crook

John