White collar crime is +EV => $650k fake bank but only pays back $88k

[AA suited]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050816/ap_on_fe_st/fake_bank_1

so he spends 5yrs in jail, but profits $582k. That's $100k/year. and because he's in jail, he has no expenses.

And since it's a federal offense, and not a state offense, he goes to federal prison. Federal prisons are nicknamed Club Fed (think Martha Stewart's prison) because they are soft.

suggestions for a white collar crime that can make lots of $? /images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[Nathan183]

Was the judge drunk? How can the restitution be any less than $650k?

If he was sentenced to 5 years he'll probably be out in 2, I wish I had thought of this..

[craig r]

I thought for Federal Prison now you did time for time. I def. could be wrong.

craig

[lu_hawk]

the big wall st firms will often do unethical/illegal things and their eventual fines will be a small fraction of how much they made. it's a cost of doing business. but this guy did go to jail, 5 yrs of my life is worth a lot more than $582k.

[unlucky513]

why doent he have to give the money back?

[newfant]

I bet the story is wrong. The $88K was probably a fine on top of the money he had to pay back.

[mason55]

[ QUOTE ]
I thought for Federal Prison now you did time for time. I def. could be wrong.

craig

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah federal prison has NO parole.

[BusterStacks]

[ QUOTE ]
I thought for Federal Prison now you did time for time. I def. could be wrong.

craig

[/ QUOTE ]

incorrect, I would gladly do 150% of my time in Federal vs County. Dude, they get Yoga classes. c'mon now...

[craig r]

I was just saying that there was no parole basically. Plus, there are still some pretty tough mofo's in there. If they brought drugs across state lines, kidnapped, etc...I think it is a myth that Maximum Security Federal Prison is easier than State Prison.

craig

[Smackdab]

[ QUOTE ]
I was just saying that there was no parole basically. Plus, there are still some pretty tough mofo's in there. If they brought drugs across state lines, kidnapped, etc...I think it is a myth that Maximum Security Federal Prison is easier than State Prison.

craig

[/ QUOTE ]


You have to be a real badass to get maximum security in a Fed. Had a cousin do time in a medium security facilty for a drug related offense. There wasn't even a fence. He described the accomadations as pretty much like a college dorm. No bars, no locks on the door. Plus they were allowed to go to town to attend church and seek out employment which if they got a job they were given work release.

So pretty much free room/board. Access to employment which allows you to bank most of it since you have no expenses.

[beernutz]

source (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/16/BABADIGEST3.DTL)

SAN FRANCISCO
Man who claimed to own bank sentenced
Bob Egelko

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

A former Oakland man was sentenced to five years in federal prison Monday for swindling investors out of $650,000 by falsely claiming that he owned a bank.

Matthew Hattabaugh, 32, now of Tulsa, Okla., was convicted by a San Francisco jury of 12 counts of wire fraud in March. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti, who ordered him to pay $87,850 in restitution to his victims. The rest of the money has already been recovered, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Hattabaugh was charged in 2003 with falsely claiming that he owned an Oakland bank called Pacific American Capital Corp. and with promising to issue certificates of deposit to investors who wired him money.

[BusterStacks]

I'm obviously not talking about maximum security, but you wouldn't get that for the crimes you named. Also who cares about parole, they are MUCH more likely to give you probation than parole anyway, though you have to do more time, which is not a problem with federal prisons because they are not overcrowded like state prisons. Parole costs the government a lot more than probation, and federal prisons are contracted to independant companies (i.e.-it costs them less to leave you in jail). It's not that you can't legally get paroled, you just never will unless you have a killer lawyer.

[meep_42]

Man, he went to Federal "Pound You In the Ass" Prison.

-d