Wednesday, May 23, 2007

CEO vs. Secretarial Justice

Earlier this year I posed the question, who will get a stiffer sentence, the Coca Cola secretary accused of pilfering company secrets or the legions of CEO's stealing from shareholders via illegal stock option backdating? The answer is in, hot off the presses.

The trade stealing secretary received an 8 year sentence. The SEC settled with Ryan Brant of Take Two Interactive. His crimes involved stealing millions from the company and its shareholders via illegal stock option granting and financial fraud. Yet the settlement provided no, as in zero jail time. For three major financial crimes against thousands of people, Mr. Brant simply paid fines.

Just as there are two levels of health care in America, we have the best justice money can buy. Apparently secretaries can't afford the jail free version.

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