The Candid Review: A Blog About Appeals

Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) is an advocacy group that fights for “smart sentencing laws that protect public safety. Although they typically represent the interests of prisoners who have been subject to strict prison sentences for drug related crimes, they have recently launched a campaign to promote lighter punishments for financial crimes. In the aftermath of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, members of Congress have blamed the Department of Justice (DOJ) for not bringing more cases against Wall Street executives. As a result, federal prosecutors have cracked down on insider trading and have imposed some lengthy prison terms. FAMM advocates for a more comprehensive approach and encourages judges to consider many factors before imposing a sentence in cases involving economic crimes.

Defendants Who Have Received Lengthy Prison Terms for Insider Trading

Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire hedge fund founder of Galleon Group, was arrested in 2009 by the FBI for insider trading. Rajaratnam is a Sri Lankan-American who began his career as a loan officer in New York at Chase Manhattan Bank before joining the investment banking boutique Needham & Co. as an analyst. He quickly rose through the ranks and eventually started his own hedge fund, Galleon Group. Rajaratnam allegedly used information obtained from multiple company executives to profit in the insider trading of several publicly held companies. In 2011, Rajaratnam was found guilty of 14 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Until Matthew Klugers subsequent arrest and 12-year prison sentence, Rajaratnam had received the longest prison sentence ever handed out for insider trading.

Matthew Kluger, a mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer, was charged with insider trading in April of 2011 after U.S. agents finally were able to gather enough evidence against him. According to Bloomberg, Kluger had been eluding the FBI for 17 years, moving from one law firm to another while taking advantage of the access he had to confidential documents. He worked with two other partners, Kenneth Robinson, a mortgage broker and Garrett Bauer, a day trader. Although Kluger made less than $1 million in the scheme, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. His partner, Bauer, who made $32 million in illegal profits, was sentenced to 9 years and Robinson was sentenced to 27 months for his cooperation with federal authorities. Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Germano argued that Kluger was the mastermind and under federal sentencing guidelines deserved between 11 and 14 years in prison. Kluger argued that he was not the mastermind and that his two partners manipulated him. Nonetheless, U.S. District Judge Katharine Hayden was not persuaded by Kruger and said that his actions were particularly egregious because he was a lawyer who had taken oaths of integrity and that he fully deserved the 12-year sentence.

FAMMs Stance on the Matter

FAMM claims that the existing guidelines in place result in an unbalanced and inherently unfair system that is inconsistent with the principles of justice. FAMM does not object to sentences that are imposed on criminals like Bernard Madoff who was sentenced to 150 years after he confessed to running a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. They advocate revisiting sentencing guidelines for cases involving lesser financial crimes.

For assistance with your criminal or civil appeal, contact the New York appeal lawyers at Brownstone Law today, at 855-776-2773.