White-Collar Crime
Lawyer Marc Dreier to Be Sentenced Today
Posted Jul 13, 2009, 05:45 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Lawyer Marc Dreier is scheduled to be sentenced today in Manhattan federal court for bilking investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars in a scheme involving fake promissory notes.
Dreier pleaded guilty to eight felony charges in connection with the scheme in May. He is seeking a sentence of no more than 12½ years in prison, while prosecutors are asking for the maximum, 145 years, the Associated Press reports. Prosecutors are also seeking $700 million in restitution.
In a letter to the court, Dreier said he started to steal as he went through a midlife crisis after his 2002 divorce. "At the beginning, I spent most of the money on growing the law firm. ... But as time went on, I was more and more self-indulgent,” the letter said. “Obviously, other men suffer through divorce and 'midlife crisis' and manage not to steal. And other people grow their business without resorting to crime."
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