Bankers too big to jail, so jail the small players?
Matt Levine writes: Richard Choo-Beng Lee, who cooperated with prosecutors in their long-running investigation of insider trading at and around SAC Capital Advisors, was sentenced to 21 days in jail, which is not a particularly long sentence as insider-trading sentences go, but which was still rather a shock to him since other insider-trading cooperators have normally avoided prison. I guess now that the Newman decision has more or less killed thehedge-fund-insider-trading crackdown, there is less reason to make cooperation appealing.
In related news, “The Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen is moving forward again, after prosecutors Monday withdrew their request for a two-year freeze imposed while they pursued criminal insider trading charges against his employees.” That case is a civil failure-to-supervise case connected with insider trading, and one fact that may be relevant to SAC’s supervisory culture is that Richard Choo-Beng Lee is one of two SAC Capital traders named Richard Lee who pled guilty to insider trading and cooperated with the government.
Meanwhile in England, poor Tom Hayes is appealing his barbaric 14-year prison sentence for Libor manipulation. “Hayes ‘Didn’t Invent’ Libor Rigging, Lawyer Says in Appeal Fight,” is the Bloomberg headline, and while I am sympathetic, no one appeals a murder sentence on the grounds that he didn’t invent murder.
In Switzerland, Hervé Falciani, a former HSBC private bank employee who leaked secret documents led to revelations “that HSBC’s Swiss banking arm turned a blind eye to illegal activities of arms dealers and helped wealthy people evade taxes,” was sentenced to five years in prison for his troubles. “He is currently living in France, where he sought refuge from Swiss justice, and did not attend the trial.”
And in Brazil, is Andre Esteves too big to jail? I mean, he’s in jail, but that is creating nervousness at his investment bank, BTG Pactual, and in the Brazilian financial system more generally.
