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The SEC only has authority to levy civil fines. They issue a fine, and then hand the case over to the US Attorney's Office (and often state attorney generals'

The SEC only has authority to levy civil fines. They issue a fine, and then hand the case over to the US Attorney's Office (and often state attorney generals' offices), which then build a criminal case. Stay tuned. This may not be over yet. (A good comparison is the Fyre Festival, which led to both civil and criminal charges: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fyre-festival-founder-billy-mcfarland-arrested-for-fraud/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fyre-festival-founder-billy-mcf... . ) Edit: Theranos was another where the SEC acted first, then the criminal case came next. https://www.vox.com/2018/6/15/17469332/theranos-elizabeth-holmes-criminal-charges-fraud https://www.vox.com/2018/6/15/17469332/theranos-elizabeth-ho...

paulddraper 8y ago
And other times criminal charges comes first. For example, SEC investigated Bernie Madoff multiple times, but the it was the FBI that decided to act, based on a criminal complaint. Sentence: 150 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Madoff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Madoff
- jhabdas 8y ago
  In this case should one be allowed to request a death penalty? Wouldn't 150 years in jail be considered cruel and unusual punishment?
  - lmm 8y ago
    > should one be allowed to request a death penalty? If prison conditions are bad enough for someone to even consider that, that's a damning indictment of the prison system. > Wouldn't 150 years in jail be considered cruel and unusual punishment? Certainly not unusual, and jail doesn't seem inherently cruel, if we believe some people are enough of a danger to society that they need to be kept out of it. (Of course some particular jails might be cruel). (I'm using the British English meaning of "jail"; I'm aware that in US English the term has a technical meaning)
    - leetcrew 8y ago
      > If prison conditions are bad enough for someone to even consider that, that's a damning indictment of the prison system. really? a cage is still a cage, no matter how nice. i'm not thirty yet; to live out more than half of my life in confinement, with no hope of release, sounds like a fate worse than death to me. if i were near the end of my life already and had a family, it might be a different calculation.

paulddraper 8y ago

And other times criminal charges comes first. For example, SEC investigated Bernie Madoff multiple times, but the it was the FBI that decided to act, based on a criminal complaint. Sentence: 150 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Madoff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Madoff

jhabdas 8y ago
In this case should one be allowed to request a death penalty? Wouldn't 150 years in jail be considered cruel and unusual punishment?
- lmm 8y ago
  > should one be allowed to request a death penalty? If prison conditions are bad enough for someone to even consider that, that's a damning indictment of the prison system. > Wouldn't 150 years in jail be considered cruel and unusual punishment? Certainly not unusual, and jail doesn't seem inherently cruel, if we believe some people are enough of a danger to society that they need to be kept out of it. (Of course some particular jails might be cruel). (I'm using the British English meaning of "jail"; I'm aware that in US English the term has a technical meaning)
  - leetcrew 8y ago
    > If prison conditions are bad enough for someone to even consider that, that's a damning indictment of the prison system. really? a cage is still a cage, no matter how nice. i'm not thirty yet; to live out more than half of my life in confinement, with no hope of release, sounds like a fate worse than death to me. if i were near the end of my life already and had a family, it might be a different calculation.