4 months!? The sentencing of white collar crimes in the U.S. juxtaposed to drug offenses and crimes of desperation should make us all question the legitimacy of our legal system.
(not that the crimes you mentioned necessarily hurt anyone either)
Drug offenders often get punished so disproportionately for their crime that they're unable to take advantage of systems that would help them improve their lives after their multi-year prison sentences (jobs, college, travel, etc.) They certainly aren't going to have a few hundred thousand dollars waiting for them when they got out.
This is clearly anecdotal, but a family member of mine - who was imprisoned for 4 years in work camps over a drug offense - was given $35 and a "good luck".
Edit: By the way, his career was ruined the moment he became accountable for one of the worst data breaches in history - this conviction isn't what ruined his career as a CIO.
I still don't think 4 months for insider trading is inappropriate, in most of the EU you'd probably not go to prison at all.
Sentences for drug offenses are insane, that doesn't mean sentences for victimless insider trading should be too. Why make things worse when you could make them better?
What exactly is your point?
That you have consequences to crime outside the judicial system... again, is something everyone has.
It applies the same to the guy selling a little weed on the side who loses his day job when he gets busted as it does to the CIO who does a little insider trading on the side and loses his day job when busted. Everyone loses their job when busted. Especially when the crime is related to betraying the hand that feeds you.
There's absolutely zero reason to bring up the loss of job as punishment, unless you are trying to subtly defend the sentencing without actually having to take up that position explicitly with clear arguments.
He's going to be just fine, and there isn't any way you could frame his situation to be worse than what drug offenders are put through.
Makes sense. I’m totally in agreement here.
By trading on insider information, he saved himself $117k in future losses (though not really because over time, I'm sure the stock will fully recover if it hasn't already). Thus the fine of $117k claws back everything that he gained due to his insider trading.
Plus, an additional $55k in fines. Plus who knows how much in lawyer fees. And then of course a criminal record that won't help with future employment prospects.
However, the pedantry I made myself vulnerable to doesn't really change my point that he's getting a disproportionately easier sentence than a drug offender would get.
Sure, we know that NOW, but at the time he could have lost enormously more. If he KNEW that was going to be his total loss it's quite possible he never would have risked it.
Sentencing for drug related offenses is fucked, everyone knows this.
Go over $500 and get charged with grand larceny and see what happens
As Nancy Botwin said on Weeds “maybe your people need to steal bigger”
Since it wont be called stealing if its big enough