SENTENCING THE WHY OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME

'So why did Mr. Gupta do it?' That question was at the heart of Judge Jed Rakoff s recent sentencing of Rajat Gupta, a former Wall Street titan and the most high-profile insider-trading defendant of the past thirty years. The answer, which the court actively sought by inquiring into Gupta's psychological motivations, resulted in a two-year sentence, eight years less than the government requested. What was it that Judge Rakoff found in Gupta that warranted such a lenient sentence? While it was ultimately unclear to the court exactly what motivated Gupta to commit such a 'terrible breach of trust,' it is exceedingly clear that Judge Rakoff's search for those motivations impacted the sentence imposed. Adapted from the source document.