Fed'l Judge Blasts 'Mean-Spirited' Gov't Memo Implying Bias for Wealthy Defendant
As he gave a high-profile defendant in an options-backdating case the probation and home confinement recommended in a presentence investigation, a federal judge in Los Angeles yesterday also offered a blistering critique of a prosecution memo urging him to send ex-KB Home CEO Bruce Karatz to the slammer.
The sentencing memo was “mean-spirited” and unworthy of the prosecutors’ office, said U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II. And even worse, he continued, it invited public ridicule and scorn of the court by suggesting that failing to give Karatz a prison term, as the government sought, would be evidence of a justice system bias in favor of the well-to-do, the DealBook blog of the New York Times reported.
Karatz was fined $1 million in addition to a five-year sentence of probation. He must serve eight months of that term in home confinement. And, as the prosecution memo portrays the situation, his home is a 24-room mansion in luxe Bel-Air, Calif.
Additional coverage:
Los Angeles Times: “Friends in high places seek leniency for Karatz”
Los Angeles Times: “Former KB Home CEO Bruce Karatz sentenced to five years’ probation”
Money& Company (Los Angeles Times): “Karatz probation sentence the latest setback for prosecutors in backdating cases”
