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When Prison Is Just Not Convenient for Rich People
Forbes
July 4, 2011
Both former CEOs Jeff Skilling (Enron) and Bernie Ebbers (WorldCom) received 25 year sentences and were allowed to drive to prison as if it were a first day of work. Granted there was no long term parking for their vehicles but white-collar crime is so civil like that. White-collar felons even go to prisons that are nicer than most with minimal security and more activities. I now understand that these conveniences are not enough and that the prison sentencing itself is starting to interfere with the lives of those looking at doing some time.
Robert Moffat, the IBM executive caught up in the Galleon Group insider trading scandal, had his lawyer negotiate a deal with the judge to enter prison earlier so that he could attend his son's graduation in May 2011. Originally scheduled to report to prison in late June 2011, after the graduation, a family meeting was held that determined it was best if Moffat missed Thanksgiving and Christmas 2010 and entered prison earlier, in order to make the graduation celebration. Moffat was released in early May so he also got a July 4th holiday to boot!
Danielle Chiesi, formerly of New Castle Partners and also caught up in the Galleon Group action, pled guilty in January 2011 and was originally scheduled for sentencing on May 13, 2011, but that interfered with a family commitment she had in Dayton, OH. Since then, her court date has been rescheduled to May 25, June 30 and now sits at July 27...if there are no other personal conflicts.
The benefits are even better at postponing prison when you have a lot of information to give the feds. Daniel DeVore (former Dell Computer employee) had his sentence for insider trading postponed for up to three (3) years because of his cooperation in the Primary Global (expert network) case. He's looking at being sentenced some time in December 2013. Hope he even remembers what he did wrong by then.
Some involved in the Madoff case even get some personal time and put off prison. On November 3, 2009 David Friehling pleaded guilty to various charges ranging from securities fraud to filing false reports to the SEC. He was to be sentenced for these crimes in February 2010 but because of his cooperation with the government, that was postponed until September 2010 ... .that was then postponed until March 15, 2011 ... .now that has been postponed until September 16, 2011. He faces up to 114 years in prison and he has used these delays to spend time with the family and travel to visit some universities with his college bound daughter.
The latest person to get in on the delay of sentencing is Raj Rajaratnam (formerly of Galleon Group), who was convicted May 11th for various securities violations. He faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced and was to be sentenced July 27, but that was delayed until September 27 according the the NY Times.
There does not seem to be any outrage over these delays, except by members of the press who are restructuring their own schedules so that they can attend these events. When delays in sentencing for these crimes are so accepted, especially for crimes that are so severe that they amount to a life sentence, then what is the purpose of imposing a sentence at all. The point about justice is that dealing with violations should be done swiftly, deter future bad behavior and protect citizens from the perpetrator. In these cases justice is far from swift, most all involved have learned from their bad behavior without doing a day in prison and none are going to work in their field of business where they perpetrated a crime, thereby protecting citizens. The courts need to move quicker, reduce the sentences associated with these crimes and move on to the next felon in line. With delays like this, it's a good thing the government doesn't run a railroad....well they actually do but look how well that is going!
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