Legal News

Breaking: Marc Dreier Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

By Jennifer Forsyth

This just in: Marc Dreier has been sentenced to 20 years for defrauding clients and investors of over $400 million.

“I am sorry, deeply sorry for the harm and sadness I have caused so many people,” said Mr. Dreier, dressed in a dark blue suit and maroon tie, to the court. “At this point, all I can do is express my shame and remorse.”

Prosecutors had asked for a 145-year sentence, which harked back to the 150-year sentence U.S. District Judge Denny Chin readily handed down to Bernie Madoff, whose massive Ponzi scheme drained the bank accounts of countless investors. In both cases defense attorneys sought a fraction of that. Dreier's attorney sought no more than 12-and-a-half years.

But Dreier drew U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who has been highly critical of the length of sentences under the federal sentencing guidelines, particularly in white collar crime cases.

In asking the judge to throw the book at Dreier, prosecutors had made references to what they saw as Dreier's greed even including glossy photos of Dreier's lavish lifestyle, including images of his yacht, beach front house in the Hamptons, and his $207,043.29 Aston Martin DB-9 convertible.

In a revealing letter to the court last week, Mr. Dreier, a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School, said his crimes in part grew out of his finding himself in great debt several years after starting the law firm, the collapse of his 15-year marriage and a crushing sense of underachievement.

”All of this left me feeling overwhelmed - by my debt, by a disappointing career, by a failed marriage. And so, incomprehensibly, in 2002 I started stealing,” Dreier said. ”First, I invaded some settlement proceeds due a client. Then I arranged a few bogus investments with some individuals. And soon I stumbled upon the brazen idea of arranging fictitious loans from hedge funds, ostensibly to my principal client - the real estate developer referenced in the indictment - and diverting the loan proceeds to myself.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 13, 2009 (boomark / email).