[anonzzzies]

Yeah, then we are all complete. What a miserable outlook. Will happen though.

I understand why it is what it is, but I don’t think killing 1 person with a knife is necessarily worse than bankrupting 1000s (or more ; the fallout of financial scammers is hard to measure). I think life in prison definitely should be on the table, in the same place with the sexual deviants and murderers. I wouldn’t find it that weird to give someone like Madoff 1000 life sentences and some poor sap who got in a fight and killed someone by accident but the agressor was white and rich, getting a few years. I guess here in the EU it is the latter but not the former and in the US the reverse. I prefer the EU stance, but in an ideal world, financial crimes affecting enough people should be treated as like murder, not just a slap on the wrist.

[jimlongton]

The investigative Youtuber 'CoffeeZilla', Stephen Findeisen, often emphasises the human cost of scams, including bankruptcy and suicides. His description of these scams as a type of "financial murder" may sound extreme but I have to agree with him when the effects are so devastating to so many people.

[amelius]

Well you could even justify it by looking at life expectancy of rich vs poor people, and then consider how many years of potential life are lost by the backrupting of 1000s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_potential_life_lost

[slillibri]

Bernie Madoff received a 150 year sentence and died in prison. Hardly a slap on the wrist.

[anonzzzies]

What he did is comparable to a serial killer in the way he ruined lives. And on a very large scale. The max punishment for that is apparently 150 years. And that is not in sing sing, but in some cushy place. But you are right; he got something that matches the crime vaguely; the problem is that this is an exception and that’s why it’s well known. Many grifters get a few years or nothing for destroying 100s of lives.