37 months jail for stealing $7.3 million?

[Kipper58]

So the full majesty of the American judicial system has decided that the three crooked bastards known as "The NatWest Three" deserve a piffling 37 months in jail for stealing £3.65 million, in an Enron related banking fraud.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/feb/23/banking....

What really makes my blood boil about this travesty is this comment from the judge:

"I wish you well in your future endeavours and I'm confident we will never see you before a court again," Werlein said.

Hands up anyone who thinks they'd have been reading this friendly banter if the three had stolen the money at the point of a gun. At least they are being made to pay back the money, but the point is - how does this pathetic sentence act as any sort of deterrent to white-collar thieves?

[SoCalDem]

1. Woohoo..sign me UP.. I could use 37 months of rest

and after I served my "time", I could happpily go visit my money in the Caymans :)

[hobbit709]

3. Yep, Remember Milken?

He did two years and got to keep a $100 mill of the money he bilked people out of. Hell, for that kind of money, I'll do two years in a country club-wouldn't be much worse than the two years I spent on a mountaintop for the Air Farce.

[PsN2Wind]

8. Where you AC&W?

N/T

[hobbit709]

10. Nope, Radio Relay-AFCS

[wolfgangmo]

6. There should be a law...

... similar to the 3 strike law that equates sentences with the amount of money involved in white collar crimes.

The first million stolen would be a 1 year mandatory plus they pay back every dime, with interest and penalties.

The second million would be a 5 year plus they pay back every dime, with interest and penalties.

The fifth million would be life plus they pay back every dime, with interest and penalties.

100 million would be chop - chop. And your family loses everything. All your family; spouse, children, parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, grandchildren. The company you worked for is broken up and the assets are given to whomever you stole from. Plus they pay back every dime, with interest and penalties

This may seem a little over the top but white collar crime is let off with a tap on the wrist. If we cause these bastards to lose assets then maybe, just maybe they will stop. Or move. Either way, the country wins.

[PsN2Wind]

7. This ain't new

Check the old movie, "Never Steal Anything Small".

[hobbit709]

2. It doesn't

If they had gotten what someone who robs a convenience store for $50 and a 12 pack gets, that and doing their time in a real jail instead of a country-club jail it might deter some of them.

[thepurpose]

4. Wow. The judge sounds like an admirer.

[Angry Mollusk]

5. Some people do more time for stealing a pack of gum

I recall seeing a case where a guy was caught stealing a pack of gum from a gas station in CA- and that 3 strikes law kicked in, and he went away for life.....

Justice in America, or the total lack thereof, totally depends on your economic class...

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Yep. Horrific, ain't it?

[Wizard777]

11. Absolutely! If your gonna steal. It's better to steal 20M than 20.00. You will do less time.

Hell, there is a guy in California serving LIFE for stealing a 600.00 golf club.

[Strelnikov_]

12. "Some will rob you with a six-gun, And some with a fountain pen"

If you'll gather 'round me, children,
A story I will tell
'Bout Pretty Boy Floyd, an outlaw,
Oklahoma knew him well.

It was in the town of Shawnee,
A Saturday afternoon,
His wife beside him in his wagon
As into town they rode.

There a deputy sheriff approached him
In a manner rather rude,
Vulgar words of anger,
An' his wife she overheard.

Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain,
And the deputy grabbed his gun;
In the fight that followed
He laid that deputy down.

Then he took to the trees and timber
To live a life of shame;
Every crime in Oklahoma
Was added to his name.

But a many a starving farmer
The same old story told
How the outlaw paid their mortgage
And saved their little homes.

Others tell you 'bout a stranger
That come to beg a meal,
Underneath his napkin
Left a thousand dollar bill.

It was in Oklahoma City,
It was on a Christmas Day,
There was a whole car load of groceries
Come with a note to say:

Well, you say that I'm an outlaw,
You say that I'm a thief.
Here's a Christmas dinner
For the families on relief.

Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.

And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.

- "Pretty Boy Floyd" by Woody Guthrie



Wonder who will be our 'Woody Guthrie'.