- A little proportion please
White-collar penalties have gotten a little ridiculous. Consider the case of Eugene Plotkin, who worked in Goldman Sachs's fixed-income research division and pleaded guilty this morning to making more than $6.7 million by engaging in an insider trading scheme. Plotkin and former Goldman analyst David Pajcin were charged with illegally trading on pending deals through secret information they got from Stanislav Shpigelman, a mergers and acquisitions analyst at Merrill Lynch. All right, Plotkin did wrong, big time, and he deserves to be punished. But had he not cut a deal with the government today, his crimes carried a maximum penalty of 165 years in prison. Doesn't that strike you as just a tad extreme? I mean, the guy didn't murder or maim anyone, didn't terrorize anyone, didn't even fleece anyone (investment banks don't count). At what point did the penalties for insider trading take on such exaggerated proportions? Under terms of his plea deal, Plotkin only faces five years and 11 months when he is sentenced (plus agreeing to forfeit $6.7 million). Shpigelman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 37 months in prison in January. The message is clear: Don't run the risk of a full-blown trial, even if you believe you're innocent. Refusing to cop a plea could get you locked up for a long, long time. Seems crazy. (Bloomberg)
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| 11:04 AM Aug 28, 2007 | Email the Daily Dragon | Email this Article | Post Comments |
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