How many of us here could steal 8 billion, do orgies at work, and escape with 2 years of prison?
If the justice department was doing their job, and justice is blind... all of us?
If the justice department was doing their job, and justice is blind... all of us?
The Judge "believed Ms. Ellison was genuinely remorseful and that her cooperation had been substantial."
The remorseful bit is a very important component here. She didn't commit the crime with the intention of gaming the system later to get away with it.
Personally, I'm okay with this. It's a huge incentive for others involved in a criminal enterprise to do the same thing in the future. It's worth letting one person off lightly to guarantee you get everyone else.
Anyone who could steal 8 billion while being white, rich, female and coming from a privileged family.
It is actually pretty easy once you met those pre-requisites.
Besides professionalism, it's just plain stupid. What happens if a participant claims they were pressured into it for the sake of a promotion, or for the sake of not being fired, or for the sake of not losing their visa? The result would be a disaster. This is also so predictable, that maybe an investor could claim legal negligence.
There is a lot of room for manipulation in the justice system in determining the hierarchy and who gets to be offered a sweet deal. Had Caroline been labeled by the media as 'the mastermind' and Sam as 'the help' by the media, the outcomes may have flipped.
The media could totally construct a story where Sam was just the helpless front guy who knew nothing, misled as to the source of the money which Alameda Research was providing.
It’s also not strictly he-said/she-said; there were at least two other executives who knew what was going on, both of whom implicated Sam as the mastermind.