Sentencing for federal crimes is governed by federal sentencing guidelines and a "severity points" system developed by the Federal Sentencing Commission. There's a very thick manual with lots of detail involved, but basically the process (omitting quite a bit) goes like this.
1. Determine the base offense level.
2. Make any changes due to "Special Offense Characteristics."
3. Add or subtract any "adjustments."
4. Apply the perpetrator's criminal history.
5. Add up all the points, read the sentence range on the chart.
So... when we read this:
A financial manipulation scheme cost American International Group investors at least $544 million, a judge has estimated...
We can play the Grand Prize Game!
1. Base offense level:
§2B1.1. Larceny, Embezzlement, and Other Forms of Theft; Offenses Involving Stolen Property; Property Damage or Destruction; Fraud and Deceit; Forgery; Offenses Involving Altered or Counterfeit Instruments Other than Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States
6 points.
2. Specific Offense Characteristics
If the loss exceeded $5,000, increase the offense level as follows:
[...]
More than $400,000,000 add 30.
[...]
30 points.
(Apply the greatest) If the offense--
[...]
(C) involved 250 or more victims, increase by 6 levels.
6 points.
...the offense (i) substantially jeopardized the safety and
soundness of a financial institution; (ii) substantially endangered
the solvency or financial security of an organization that, at any
time during the offense, (I) was a publicly traded company; or
(II) had 1,000 or more employees; or (iii) substantially
endangered the solvency or financial security of 100 or more
victims, increase by 4 levels.
4 points.
there was a violation of securities law and, at the time of the offense, the
defendant was (i) an officer or a director of a publicly traded
company; (ii) a registered broker or dealer, or a person
associated with a broker or dealer; or (iii) an investment adviser,
or a person associated with an investment adviser; increase by 4 levels.
4 points.
Subtotal: 50 points.
Without going any farther, assuming no criminal history, and ignoring any departures / negotiated deductions (which, we grant, a decent defense counsel would manage to obtain in size), we look to the chart and find:
43 points and above: life.
Ouch.
A.I.G. Fraud Scheme Cost Investors $544 Million, Judge Finds [Bloomberg]
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 10:38AM
2
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 10:43AM
Not to worry - they give facials at ClubFed
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 10:48AM
So, based on the formulas in points 1, 2 & 3, Dick Fuld will be sentenced to about 546 years in Federal prison. Wheeeeeeeeee.......................
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 10:58AM
@2
You betcha. On your knees and SPLOOOGE!
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 11:16AM
Pretty soon, we will have the technology to make "consecutive life sentences" a reality. He serves until he dies, we clone him back up again AND MAKE HIM SERVE ANOTHER LIFE TERM. Or do the same thing to actualize 11,000 year sentences.
Fuld will be the first honoree, you watch.
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 11:52AM
The funny thing about consecutive life sentences is that they run concurrently.... so in theory we would have to clone Fuldie now and give him and his stunt double life... with free facials of course.
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 12:11PM
AIG and BRK has to pay that loss? Buffett will have a fit. AIG will pay with our money.
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 12:18PM
What are you babbling about?
Consecutive life sentences run consecutively. That's what "consecutive" means. If they ran concurrently, they'd be concurrent life sentences. Obviously, absent the technology I await, there's no way to actually enforce consecutive life sentences, but they are imposed and they mean what they say. If died and rose again somehow, you'd go right back in the hoosegow. (I wonder if anybody has ever been clinically dead and then tried to get out of a life sentence. Probably wouldn't work absent a death certificate.)
While there are no recorded cases of anybody serving more than one life sentence, it does make a huge difference in when you're eligible for parole, for instance, whether your life sentences are consecutive or concurrent. If they're consecutive, you aren't eligible for parole until you've met the parole requirement for each one separately.
Anyway, obviously we'd have to change the law to make this stick. For instance, under current law Fuld's clone is a separate individual with no liability for his acts. It's just that soon it will be practical to do it.
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 12:24PM
Too much math; didn't calculate
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 12:25PM
They will get the minimum. These people were just fuckin around. No real evil intent or greed. The stock might have done anything. It is a speculative figure and on appeal justice will prevail. The real bad guy is at large.
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 12:44PM
The "Grand Prize Games" !?!?!
Do you mean THE Grand Prize Game?
The one from Bozo Circus?!! THAT Grand Prize GAME !!!!!
Posted by ep , Nov 04, 2008 1:16PM
"The one from Bozo Circus?!! THAT Grand Prize GAME !!!!!"
Correct.
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 2:37PM
@10: Dick, so is the "real" bad guy running around the Treasury Dept? Or NYSE? Is he the true Anti-Christ, or just some money-grubbing Fuckstein who dicked around with his firm's balance sheet year after year. Who is the real bad guy if it is not you Fuld?
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 2:42PM
Yeah, and we're supposed to keep Fuld out of prision so he can find the real bad guys............
Posted by guest , Nov 05, 2008 12:14PM
Fine with me. If you don't think any crime was committed, I am open to persuasion, but if you grant that one was, then if it caused half a billion in losses that jeopardized financial institutions and affected scores of people, life seems like a fair sentence.
I mean, in practical terms, how much is a single life worth? Stabbing someone on the street in cold blood must be worthy of a life sentence, but how much damage did that person do? It's hard to see how the value of a single life on the street could exceed, say, $10 million by all the metrics legal scholars use to calculate this sort of thing (willingness to pay stats being among the most compelling), so a loss of $500M even under this generous standard would be like murdering 50 people.