Rigged auctioneers externalized bid selection to the moon’s phase

Evidence

The architects of this conspiracy not only disavowed responsibility for their actions but even dissociated an agentic role in the selection of bid winners. They created a system in which the phase of the moon determined which firm won the bid in a particular competition on a given day. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1399

Categorization

• CANDY: The absurd detail that price-fixers outsourced bid-winner selection to the moon’s phase is a memorable, tweetable story about self-deception at scale.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1399