Peter J. Henning follows issues involving securities law and white-collar crime for DealBook’s White Collar Watch.
The 50-year prison term given to a one-time business mogul, Thomas J. Petters, is the latest in a string of harsh punishments imposed on defendants convicted of orchestrating frauds. Twenty years ago, a sentence of more than five years for a white-collar offender was rare, and most sentences were measured in months, not years.
The sentence meted out to Mr. Petters last week is similar in severity to the 150 years given to Bernard L. Madoff for defrauding investors of tens of billions of dollars in his vast Ponzi scheme, and it is the latest signal that many defendants, at least in high-profile cases, are looking at prison terms that will amount to life behind bars.
These types of long sentences that are effectively life prison terms have become more common even as federal judges regained their authority to decide the punishment for a conviction without having to follow the Federal Sentencing Guidelines strictly.
"Reader-friendly" version of the Proposed 2010 Guideline Amendments (January 21, 2010). This compilation contains unofficial text of proposed amendments to the sentencing guidelines, policy statements, and commentary, and is provided only for the convenience of the user in the preparation of public comment. Official text of the proposed amendments appear in the January 21, 2010, edition of the Federal Register. http://www.ussc.gov/2010guid/20100121_Reader_Friendly_Proposed_Amendments.pdf
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