Tom Kirkendall wonders (Oct. 16) why a former energy trader who admitted that he stole $43 million from his employer, Merrill Lynch, just got a comparatively lenient sentence of 3 1/2 years, while former Merrill employee Jamie Olis (May 18, 2004), who “did not receive a dime from the [accounting hype] that is the basis of his alleged crime”, got 24 years:

Let’s see. Embezzle $43 million and, if you get caught, cop a plea and serve 3 1/2 years. Or, do your job, don’t embezzle a cent, defend your innocence against criminal charges even when your employer serves you up as a sacrificial lamb so that the employer can avoid criminal charges, and then endure either as long, or much longer, a sentence if you are convicted.

Correction: my foulup. As I should have remembered, Olis was a Dynegy, not a Merrill Lynch, employee. Tom K. does discuss the sentences handed out to two Merrill employees who, like Olis, were not alleged to have profited personally from their misdeeds.

Filed under: crime and punishment