Federal officials arrested two computer programmers who worked for Bernie Madoff. Officials alleged that the men showed Madoff how to produce fake documents -- presumably financial statements -- in return for hush money. AP:

"Without the help of O'Hara and Perez, the Madoff fraud would not have been possible," George S. Canellos, director of the SEC's New York Regional Office, said in a statement.

If true, I hope it was a lot of hush money. These are only government allegations. But if they're true, these guys were putting their freedom on the line to enable Bernie to pocket billions. In the job market such combat duty should have commanded a very nice premium. But usually in cases like this it seems that the low-level folks -- the drug mules, the street-corner dealers, the insider-trading tippers etc. -- don't get paid for the risks they take.

UPDATE: I'm not justifying anything that happened. But in theory the same incentives for risks and rewards should apply in the illicit job market as the licit.