Law Firm Inside Traders Get Jail Time

In two prominent law firm-related insider trading cases, judges have opted for shackles instead of wrist slaps, handing out jail terms:

• The Richards, Layton & Finger IT manager charged with using his access to electronic firm documents to support almost two dozen trades was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release. (This follows a previous $82,000 fine.)
• The Ropes & Gray lawyer who plead guilty to going on internal "fishing expeditions" to find information supporting extensive insider trading, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. He has also been disbarred and fined $378,000. The sentencing judge called out the lawyer's actions as harmful to the reputation of the legal profession.

 See additional background and commentary on the US Attorney's Office focus on white collar crime.