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Second Circuit affirms (in unpublished opinion) greatly reduced white-collar sentence

By Douglas A. Berman

Regular readers and white-collar sentencing fans likely remember the memorable 2006 sentencing decision in Adelson (basics here, comments here right after the sentence was rendered).  In Adelson,  SDNY District Judge Jed Rakoff's granted an huge variance to a corporate president who faced a life sentence under the federal sentencing guidelines after a fraud conviction that resulted in $260 million in losses.  I just learned from a helpful reader that yesterday the Second Circuit rejected the government's appeal of this sentence (in this summary order), based largely on the strength of the Circuit's work last week in its en banc Cavera decision (basics here, comments here on Cavera).  Here is the heart (indeed, virtually all) of the Second Circuit panel's explanation for why the way-below-guideline sentence in Adelson was reasonable:  In Cavera, we stated that, ?we will continue to patrol the boundaries of reasonableness, while heeding the Supreme Court?s renewed message that responsibility for sentencing is placed largely in the precincts of the district courts...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on December 10, 2008 (boomark / email).