White Collar Criminal Defense: A Super Expensive Process
A former billionaire spent around $40 million defending himself against insider trading charges. Also, he had to wait up to wait six days for the jury to deliberate and now he has to face the ongoing appeal. Despite spending incredible sums on his defense, this man is now in a prison near Boston. Another man, a board member of a famous company, has spent around $30 million in legal fees alone. Although he is now free, he was found guilty and was also sentenced to two years in prison.
A Painful Process
Another famous executive defended himself against that he was backdating some stock options, and his corporation had for pay 10s of millions of dollars in legal fees to protect their CFO. White collar criminal defense is crucial for these high executives, as they might be put in prison for life. Mounting a criminal defense is an expensive process, according to an abstract written by Sarah Ribstein, a Law student at Duke University. The United States`s justice system provides for reduction prison time if the defendant takes responsibility for the criminal action involved. However, the costs related to pleading guilty are expensive anyway, costing a lot of money.
One has to know which laws have been violated, know the type of law one is just pleading guilty to, and then some negotiations will take place by some prosecutors trying to get the best deal, meaning fewer years in a prison. Also, the defense attorney will have to look into important factors such as family and health issues to influence a judge to get a lesser sentence for his or her client. Defense lawyers might charge their fees upfront or have them deposited in a bank account to withdraw the funds while the trial progresses, according to Ribstein’s investigation.
Defense lawyers require upfront payments as they know the cost of this process. Also, they do it as a means to protect their fees in case a client loses his or her primary assets during the trial. Since defendants have lost their jobs, have few opportunities of getting a new one as they fear of getting arrested and spend tons of time with their lawyers, they have to pay tons of money over time. How much money per hour? They have to pay a lot of money as much as $1000 per hour.
It Costs Tons of Money
Why does white collar criminal defense cost so much money? It costs tons of money because a defendant will have to fight against the U.S. government. This institution can spend any amount of money as the case requires over time. Also, the federal government has powerful tools that can make a defendant cry such as asset seizure, secret grand jury, and grants of immunity to employees and colleagues. So putting any defense up against the U.S. government will cost anyone tons of money. A defendant tends to lose his or her savings account in the first place, and then the hunting goes on with the house, a retirement account, and even the college savings for the kids.