'''Basic Trope''': Rich people can buy their way out of trouble by paying people off.
* '''Straight''': Alice is pulled over by a cop. She gets out of a ticket by dropping a few hundreds his way.
* '''Exaggerated''':
** Alice gets out of the ticket by dropping a BriefcaseFullOfMoney at the cop's feet.
** Alice is CorruptCorporateExecutive and a member of the {{Fiction 500}} who can get away with holocausts and crimes against humanity [[DevilInPlainSight while in everyone's plain sight]].
** Anytime Alice has an issue with the rules of an establishment, she purchases it and changes the rules.
* '''Downplayed''':
** Alice, after getting caught stealing something, gives it to the officer who catches her, claiming it's an early birthday gift for him.
** While Alice isn't able to completely dodge punishment for committing a felony, she does manage to get her prison sentence greatly reduced after bribing the judge.
** Alice regularly violates a business regulation, considering the fine she pays to be a simple business expense.
* '''Justified''':
** Alice is in a third-world country with a corrupt police force.
** The world is a materialistic {{Dystopia}} where you need money in order to be able to eat.
** Alice can afford an ArmyOfLawyers who can help her bend laws as she wish.
* '''Inverted''':
** ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules and ScrewTheMoneyThisIsPersonal
** A CorruptCop offers bribes to anyone who witnesses his committing of police brutality.
** Alice has a large amount of money, and seems to give it to other people even when she's not supposed to.
** Alice is a regular rule-breaker because, being dirt-poor, she literally has nothing to lose.
** "[[ScrewYourself Screw myself]], [[RussianReversal money makes me]]!"
* '''Subverted''': The cop doesn't take Alice's bribe, and she goes on trial.
* '''Double Subverted''': ... where she pays off the judge.
* '''Parodied''':
** Alice crosses the MoralEventHorizon and is [[KarmaHoudini let off scott-free]] when she gives out a ComicallySmallBribe to the police.
** Alice pays more in bribe money than it would have cost for her to just pay the ticket.
** Alice is a poor woman who is wrongly imprisoned. After a long sentence she is finally exonerated and gets a large settlement. She then uses her newfound money to commit a crime and get away with it.
* '''Zig Zagged''': Alice tries to pay off the cop, who refuses her money. She goes to trial, bribes the judge, and it looks like she's going to get off. However, she and the judge are both caught in the bribe, and so she's tried again, fails to bribe the new judge, and goes to jail. She then bribes the jailer into "accidentally" leaving the keys in the lock of her cell.
* '''Averted''':
** Alice doesn't have enough money, or else, she wouldn't try it anyway.
** [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules Alice is still punished regardless of bribery]].
* '''Enforced''': "We can't let the RichBitch get in trouble! She's [[ArcVillain the primary antagonist for this season]]; [[ContractualImmortality we need her for at least fifteen more episodes]]. Let's have her pay the guy off."
* '''Lampshaded''': Cop: "Let me guess, you want to give me a little something to make this go away?"
* '''Invoked''': Cop: "Give me a little something, and I could make this go away."
* '''Exploited''': Bob takes note of Alice's ability to bribe authority figures so that she can go about her business unimpeded, begins to act suspiciously to arouse police interest, and when they take the bait, [[VillainHasAPoint he points out that if Alice should be allowed to do whatever she damn well pleases, so should he, because the two are equal before the law]].
* '''Defied''':
** [[ByTheBookCop Cop]]: "[[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules Nice try, ma'am, but]] [[BribeBackfire attempting bribery is also a crime]]."
** Alice: "Do I look like an ATM? I'll see you in traffic court!"
** "You're trying to bribe me, right now, when there's a tidal wave coming at us? [[MoneyIsNotPower Your money can't save you any more that it can save me!]]"
** Bob puts an end to Alice's bribery by [[VigilanteExecution shooting her]].
** "You are not the only one with deep pockets. I will provide anyone that you harmed with a high powered lawyer, and I will sue you for everything that you are worth. Anyone that you try to buy off, I will pay them double."
** Day Fine is implemented, where [[PercentDamageAttack fines scale to the person's income]]. Having to pay a $150,000 fine for speeding has got to ''sting.''
* '''Discussed''': "C'mon Alice, just pay the guy off, you have the money."
* '''Conversed''': "I hate watching those rich bozos just bribe their way out of anything that goes wrong!"
* '''Implied''': Alice is apparently very wealthy and was just served a court summons. Then, GilliganCut to her exulting that it's been cancelled.
* '''Deconstructed''':
** Alice's constant bribery to get out of trouble is whittling down her bank account.
** So many rich people buying their way out of punishment, Alice included, ends up causing the people to lose trust in the justice system. This results in a huge spike of VigilanteJustice as the populace decide to take matters into their own hands and give criminals the punishment they feel is deserved while the justice system refuses to work as it should.
* '''Reconstructed''':
** Alice's constant bribery to get out of trouble is whittling down her bank account but she runs a massive {{megacorp}}oration which provides her more than she needs, and in some cases (especially in dystopias) paying your fines is actually cheaper than trying to follow the law in the long run.
** Alice decides to take a different approach. She doesn't bribe the police officer trying to arrest her. Instead, she spends money on the people who can make the cop's life a living hell. After a while, the threat of her whittling down her account is fixed: She doesn't even need to make bribes because she's built up a reputation and the threat of what will happen if people piss her off is enough. Fixes the problem of people who can't be bought, too: There's always someone who can.
* '''Played for Laughs''': Alice can pay the police off with {{Comically Small Bribe}}s.
* '''Played for Drama''': Alice repeatedly bribes corrupt officials to get out of trouble. Fed up with this, a group of people decide to deal with her and the corrupt officials via extralegal means.
* '''Played for Horror''': Alice gets away with inflicting {{Cruel And Unusual Death}}s, ColdBloodedTorture, {{Rape|Is a special kind of evil}}, and other [[MoralEventHorizon horrendous crimes]] through the usage of money.
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Bribe the ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney page with money to [[KarmaHoudini get away with your crimes]].
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%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
%%* '''Plotted a Good Waste''': ???
%%*