Fraud sentencing of National Lampoon CEO no laughing matter (though recommended sentence are funny)

A notable white-collar sentencing took place in federal court in Indiana today, as reported in this AP piece headlined “Ex-National Lampoon CEO sentenced to 50 years in jail.”  Here are the details:

A financier and former chief executive of humor magazine National Lampoon convicted of swindling investors out of about $200 million was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson said the case against Timothy Durham was characterized by “deceit, greed and arrogance” and that Durham had violated the trust of thousands of small investors from the American Heartland.  “We drive Chevys and Buicks and Ford, not Ducatis. That’s how most of us roll,” Magnus-Stinson said. “When they’re defrauded, it is the most serious offense because it undermines the fabric of this country.”…

Prosecutors have said [Durham and his codefendants] stripped Akron, Ohio-based Fair Finance of its assets and used the money to buy mansions, classic cars and other luxury items and to keep another of Durham’s company afloat. The men were convicted of operating an elaborate Ponzi scheme to hide the company’s depleted condition from regulators and investors, many of whom were elderly.

Durham’s attorney, John Tompkins, argued at trial that Durham and the others were caught off-guard by the economic crisis of 2008 and bewildered when regulators placed them under more strict scrutiny and investors made a run on the company. Attorneys for all three men had asked the judge for lighter sentences than those recommended. Tompkins sought a total of five years for Durham — three years in prison and two years of home detention.

Prosecutors had wanted 225 years for Durham. Magnus-Stinson said she couldn’t sentence him to that much because that number would be as “puffed up” as statements that he held $280 million in assets. But she clearly showed her displeasure with Durham, telling him he had been “raised better” and noting that though he testified that he “felt terribly” for the victims, he had shown no sincere remorse.

Barbara Lukacik, 74, an Ohio nun who said she lost $125,000 in the Fair Finance collapse, said she had forgiven Durham and the others but testified before the sentencing that a lengthy sentence was warranted. “If you receive a short sentence — a slap on the wrist, so to say — I do not think it will be enough time for your heart and your conscience to realize your sin and your greed,” she said.

There is nothing funny about lives ruined by a massive fraud and by a decision to impose a 50-year prison sentence on a white-collar scoundral. But this story struck me as especially blogworthy and somewhat laughable on a Friday afternoon because of the seemingly crazy (though arguably not foolish) sentencing recommendations coming from the parties.  I know I would never in good conscious be able to seriously advocate for a sentence of 225 years in prison for anyone, and I probably also could not urge only 3 years in prison for a massive Ponzi schemer.  At both extremes, the recommendations coming from the parties here seem more fitting for the National Lampoon’s pages than federal court filings.