Have the Ponzi schemers really rode off into the sunset? Or shall we say, life behind bars?
After
pleading guilty to several counts of fraud arising out of a Ponzi
scheme that bilked investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars,
defamed attorney Marc S. Dreier -- founder and managing partner of
bankrupt Dreier LLP -- has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The sentencing
reportedly came this past Monday
from Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York in Manhattan, though documents confirming the
ruling had yet to filed as of Wednesday. A request lodged by Assistant
U.S. Attorney Jonathan R. Streeter seeking 145 years was rejected by
Rakoff at the hearing, where Dreier offered his apologies to the
courtroom.
"At this point, all I can do is express my shame and
remorse. ... I'm sorry to all the people I stole from," said Dreier, who
pleaded guilty to several counts of securities and wire fraud on May
11 and is currently in Chapter 7 bankruptcy. "I'm sorry to the clients
I betrayed. I'm sorry to the lawyers at my law firm for dishonoring
their profession."
The ruling comes just a day after Bernard Madoff, 71,
arrived at a federal prison in North Carolina
to begin serving his 150-year sentence for his own high crimes. Madoff
was sentenced on June 29 by U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin of the
Southern District of New York in Manhattan.
The trial of R. Allen
Stanford, meanwhile, is still to come. The founder of Stanford
Financial Group has been indicted for orchestrating a $7 billion scheme
for defrauding investors, and just recently, a federal judge revoked
bail because he agreed with prosecutors that Stanford was a flight risk.
Will
this be the end of it? Unfortunately, probably not. The unraveling of
the markets was the key factor in unmasking these Ponzi schemers, and
it's likely that others have yet to be exposed. But it's this trio that
may be remembered as a defining mark of the troubled era we are
currently in. -
Carolyn Okomo
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