The United States Justice Department is noticing what it regards as extreme variance and corresponding illogic in federal sentences handed down in a growing number of white collar fraud cases, and is asking for re-examination by the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
A Justice Department report states that sentencing in fraud and other white collar crime matters "has largely lost its moorings." In support of that assertion, it points to the sentencing disparity made obvious by collective examination of cases such as the following: AIG defendants who caused more than $500 million in losses receiving one-to-four-year sentences when they could have received life terms; a Ponzi-scheme defendant who caused $40 million receiving a 25-year prison term; a securities fraud conviction resulting in a sentence of less than four years for a fraud resulting in more than $50 million in losses.






