Submit or Die

Law professor Doug Berman, who runs the “Sentencing Law and Policy” blog, has just highlighted another case that seems to point up the Justice Department’s “submit or die” policy.

A bunch of fraudsters made off with about $100 million from some 800 people in the United States and Canada. The president of the company, David White, age 41, pleaded guilty and got 5 years. So he will be able to resume his life at about the age of 46. Two other members of the conspiracy went to trial and were convicted. One of them, a part-owner, age 36, was sentenced to 60 years. Another, a co-founder of the company, age 40, got 45 years. Since there is no parole in the federal system, they have in effect been sentenced to life without parole—while the president of the company will be out in five years.

Berman calls it “yet another stark reminder of the extraordinary sentencing consequences than can flow from putting the federal government to its burden of proof at trial in a white-collar case.”

spiderID=2014

‍