I've had the strange occurrence on two separate jobs where a coworker attempted to work at two companies at once. One was 90% telecommute, the other was about 50%. But both of those guys lasted less than two months before they were found out.
I am not saying it's not possible, but it's much harder to do UNLESS the companies the person is working for are aware the person has other 'clients'. It's completely common for contractors to work for multiple companies at once (often outsourcing to, yes, China) , so my thinking was that the idea that 'Bob' was a talented programmer who could manage an entire outsourcing workforce but never figure out how to do it completely legitimately and make more money just makes the story that much less plausible.
I am not saying it's not possible, but it's much harder to do UNLESS the companies the person is working for are aware the person has other 'clients'. It's completely common for contractors to work for multiple companies at once (often outsourcing to, yes, China) , so my thinking was that the idea that 'Bob' was a talented programmer who could manage an entire outsourcing workforce but never figure out how to do it completely legitimately and make more money just makes the story that much less plausible.