While financial crimes can cost millions or billions of dollars, to some it still seems irrational to make those prison sentences harsher than the sentences for violent crimes.
The increase in the length of sentences for white-collar crimes now puts many of these crimes ahead of crimes such as drug trafficking and manslaughter. For example, wire and mail fraud previously carried maximum five-year sentences, and that was increased to 20 years under the legislation. Sentencing guidelines have changed dramatically because of Sarbanes-Oxley. Investors are now real people, just like them.įollowing the now-famous corporate scandals of Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 sought to protect retail investors from financial statement fraud. But as more ordinary consumers become involved in the stock market through their retirement accounts, they see a personal connection to fraud. In earlier years, stockholders and corporate victims were largely nameless and faceless to the general public. Part of the change in sentences has to do with the publicity of fraud cases and the victims of fraud. Experts agree: His sentence for the same crimes today would have been much harsher.
He was given a 10-year sentence, but was let out of prison after only 22 months because of his cooperation with prosecutors and good behavior while in prison. Michael Milken of junk bond fame pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy in 1990. In general, sentences for financial crimes are much longer and harsher today than they were in the 1980s and 1990s. Those who choose to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against other defendants also tend to receive lighter sentences. Often, executives who do not have significant direct involvement in the financial crimes receive lighter sentences. When plea deals are reached, or convictions are obtained, the sentencing begins. With limited resources and a tendency to focus on violent crimes, white collar criminals are usually only prosecuted criminally for their deeds if the crimes are large enough or egregious enough to warrant scrutiny by law enforcement. Prosecuting and Sentencing Financial CrimesĪlthough cases of corporate fraud and embezzlement have received a proportionately greater share of media coverage in the last five to seven years, only a fraction of all cases are actually investigated by law enforcement. Lawmakers, judges, and prosecutors owe it to consumer and victims to work toward a system that is fair and equitable to all parties. Yet the fact remains that disparities in sentencing should be examined closer.
There are many factors that come into play, so simply assessing the number of years at the end of the process is a little simplistic. We can’t discount the fact that determining a sentence is a complex process. However, it’s clear to me that there is a wide range of sentences that are not necessarily fair to either the victims or the fraud perpetrators. Of course, there are many facts that go into a sentencing decision, and so it is difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison of sentences between cases. While investigating fraud for more than a decade, I have consistently been amazed by the disparity among criminal sentences in financial fraud cases.
0 kommentar(er)
