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Full-Text Articles in Law
Sentencing High-Loss Corporate Insider Frauds After Booker, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Sentencing High-Loss Corporate Insider Frauds After Booker, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Faculty Publications
The Federal Sentencing Guidelines have for some years prescribed substantial sentences for high-level corporate officials convicted of large frauds. Guidelines sentences for offenders of this type moved higher in 2001 with the passage of the Economic Crime Package amendments to the Guidelines, and higher still in the wake of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Today, any corporate insider convicted of even a moderately high-loss fraud is facing a guideline range measured in decades, or perhaps even mandatory life imprisonment. Successful sentencing advocacy on behalf of such defendants requires convincing the court to impose a sentence outside (in many cases, far …
'Tis A Gift To Be Simple: A Model Reform Of The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Frank O. Bowman Iii
'Tis A Gift To Be Simple: A Model Reform Of The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Faculty Publications
This essay introducing the June 2006 edition of the Federal Sentencing Reporter (Vol. 18, No. 5) describes two important contributions to the movement for real reform of the federal sentencing system. First, Professor Bowman summarizes the recommendations of the Constitution Project Sentencing Initiative (CPSI) report on federal sentencing. The CPSI report, reproduced in this Issue, cautions against any over-hasty legislative response to the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Booker, suggests some near-term improvements to the existing federal sentencing system, and then sets out a framework for a reformed and markedly simplified federal sentencing regime. Second, Professor Bowman describes …
The Model Federal Sentencing Guidelines Project: A Simplified Economic Crimes Guideline, Model Sentencing Guidelines §2b1.1, Frank O. Bowman Iii
The Model Federal Sentencing Guidelines Project: A Simplified Economic Crimes Guideline, Model Sentencing Guidelines §2b1.1, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Faculty Publications
This Article is the third of twelve parts of a set of Model Federal Sentencing Guidelines designed to illustrate the feasibility and advantages of a simplified approach to federal sentencing proposed by the Constitution Project Sentencing Initiative. The Model Sentencing Guidelines and the Constitution Project report are all to be published in Volume 18, Number 5 of the Federal Sentencing Reporter. The project is described in an essay titled 'Tis a Gift To Be Simple: A Model Reform of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, available on SSRN at http://ssrn.com/abstract=927929.
Pour Encourager Les Autres? The Curious History And Distressing Implications Of The Criminal Provisions Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act And The Sentencing Guidelines Amendments That Followed, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Pour Encourager Les Autres? The Curious History And Distressing Implications Of The Criminal Provisions Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act And The Sentencing Guidelines Amendments That Followed, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Faculty Publications
This Article presents a legislative history of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the subsequent amendments to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. It explains the surprising interaction between the civil and criminal provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley. The Article also provides a dramatic and detailed account of the interplay of political interests and agendas that ultimately led to large sentence increases for serious corporate criminals and blanket sentence increases for virtually all federal fraud defendants. The tale illuminates the substance of the new legislation and sentencing rules, but is more broadly instructive regarding the distribution of power over criminal sentencing between the three branches and …
Cybergossip Or Securities Fraud? Some First Amendment Guidance In Drawing The Line., Lyrissa Lidsky, Michael Pike
Cybergossip Or Securities Fraud? Some First Amendment Guidance In Drawing The Line., Lyrissa Lidsky, Michael Pike
Faculty Publications
Fifteen-year-old Jonathan Lebed, the youngest person ever pursued by the SEC in an enforcement action, made over $800,000 in six months by promoting stocks on Internet message boards. Using several fictitious screen names, Jonathan posted hundreds of messages on Yahoo! Finance, hyping selected over-the-counter stocks and then promptly selling his pre-purchased shares as soon as the stock prices rose.
Publicly, the SEC painted a picture-perfect case of securities fraud. Yet, the SEC forced disgorgement of only $285,000 of Jonathan's profits, leaving many observers to wonder why the resolution of this supposedly clear-cut case left its teenaged perpetrator with over $500,000. …
Blowing The Whistle Louder, Richard C. Reuben
Blowing The Whistle Louder, Richard C. Reuben
Faculty Publications
Amid the continuing national debate over deficit reduction, a case before the U.S. Supreme Court has multibillion-dollar ramifications in fraud recoveries for the federal government. At issue in Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States ex rel. Schumer, No. 95-1340, is the reach of the U.S. False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729, et seq., which permits private parties to bring whistleblower lawsuits - also called "qui tam" actions - against companies that allegedly are defrauding the government. But they can only bring such actions if the information they present about alleged fraud has not already been "publicly disclosed." The lower …
Guest Editor's Observations: Back To Basics: Helping The Commission Solve The "Loss" Mess With Old Familiar Tools, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Guest Editor's Observations: Back To Basics: Helping The Commission Solve The "Loss" Mess With Old Familiar Tools, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Faculty Publications
Roughly one-quarter of all convicted federal defendants are sentenced for some kind of economic crime.1 There is an emerging consensus that the provisions of the federal sentencing guidelines devoted to economic crime do not work very well, a consensus that has created a powerful momentum for significant change. This Issue of FSR is about whether the guidelines concerning economic offenses, principally §2B1.1 (Theft) and §2F1.1 (Fraud), should be materially altered, and if so, how. The debate that has been joined over this question is technically complex and philosophically challenging. There are disagreements over issues as particular as when collateral posted …
Appendix To Guest Editor's Observations: A Proposal For A Consolidated Theft/Fraud Guideline, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Appendix To Guest Editor's Observations: A Proposal For A Consolidated Theft/Fraud Guideline, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Faculty Publications
Professor Frank Bowman proposed the following consolidated theft/fraud guideline to the U.S. Sentencing Commission in October 1997. The proposal is explained in detail in a forthcoming law review article, Coping With Loss”: A Re-Examination of Federal Economic Crime Sentencing Under the Guidelines, 51 Vanderbilt L. Rev. -- (April 1998).