How do bribes work financially? Do you need to keep recruiting money in reserve to pay the recruits at the end of the year?

As soon as a recruit advises he's willing to accept the bribe if he signs with your team, the money is deducted from your remaining recruiting budget right then. Should he subsequently accept a scholarship offer to another program, the amount of money that was being held for his bribe is reinserted into your budget.

If the recruit accepts a scholarship to another program and the bribe money is returned to the budget, does that count as a violation for you?

I'm not sure, but I would assume that it could. I also THINK that just offering a bribe, even if the intended recipient refuses it, could potentially be the basis of action. Again, all this is just my opinion.

Do we have theories about what bribes do/don't bring serious penalties? The CPU teams can get whacked pretty seriously (UNC just got a four-year postseason ban with no scholarships and a probably head coach firing for bribing SIX players in my dynasty) but my morals are slipping as my team's prestige rises and I start to draw serious interest from Top 20 recruits. I offered one guy the 5k "celebrity meeting" bribe and now he's signed with me and I'm like THE FUTURE

Like in real life, some get caught, others don't. So you just never know. Y'a jes take yer chances.