Filed in archive corporate crime by leon on July 1, 2009 Much has been said about Bernard Madoff's 150 year prison sentence. The Los Angeles Times points out the obvious: his sentence is a lot shorter than what was handed out to the likes of Denis Kozlowski (8 to 25 years), Bernie Ebbers (25 years) and Jeff Skilling 24 years and 4 months). Madoff's attorney Lee Sorkin has described the sentence as "absurd". Appearing on the Today, and as reported in the Huffington Post, Sorkin said the sentence did not make sense. "My reaction is the justice system is not based on vengeance and it's not built on symbolism... 150 years is absurd under the guidelines under the sentencing statutes." Slate says there are good pragmatic and symbolic reasons for the sentence. "In cases where the accumulation of life sentences has no practical... [read full story]
