OK, some meat I can bite into: "he does not appear to have been convicted on trumped-up charges".

The amount at hand was (curse HN for hiding the parent thread), ~$100m. Let's be generous and say as much as $250m. A significant amount? Yes. As much as has remained unprosecuted in other significant cases of fraud.

Pardon my French here.

Hell. Fucking. No.

I'm answering briefly in the midst of a number of other tasks and with a slow system, so I'm not even going to pretend that my case here is complete or entirely cogent.

But as memory serves, there was a financial bailout in recent memory on the order of $650 billion dollars, and some trouble in the real-estate sector. So it's not clear to me just how significant a $100m case is. Especially if other circumstances (noted above) meant the government was itself influencing the financial outcome (and limiting disclosure).

The question is less one of fabricated enforcement than selective enforcement, along with concerns over parallel construction.

Moreover, coercive punishment is straight out of Machiavelli or any two-bit warlord. How do you get your underpaid and resentful soldiers to do unspeakable things to the enemy on the battlefield? Threaten doing unspeakable things to them, their loved ones, and belongings yourself. That is a huge concern in any surveillance state.

I was curious as to just how Nacchio's case measures up with other prosecutions, and, actually, it's a pretty good-sized dollar amount, if one accepts the prosecutors' accounting. From the FBI, other financial crimes prosecuted 2007-2011:

http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/financial-cri...

"On December 6, 2010, the FFETF-Securities Fraud Working Group held a national press conference to announce the conclusion of OBT. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder gave remarks on behalf of DOJ. In coordination with the national press conference, local press conferences were held across the country by U.S. attorneys participating in the operation. The operation involved 343 criminal defendants nationwide and more than 120,000 victims with losses attributable to alleged criminal activity of more than $8 billion."

That works out to an average of $23 million per defendant.

Also:

"As of the end of FY 2011, the FBI was investigating 1,846 cases of securities and commodities fraud and had recorded 520 indictments/informations and 394 convictions against this criminal threat. Additional notable accomplishments in FY 2011 include: $8.8 billion in restitution orders; $36 million in recoveries; $113 million in fines; and $751 million in forfeitures. The chart below reflects securities and commodities fraud pending cases from FY 2007 through FY 2011."

Assuming $8.9 billion at hand, $17.1 million per indictment (not clear if cases involved multiple indictments).

Health care fraud (HCF):

"The following notable statistical accomplishments are reflective in FY 2011 for HCF: $1.2 billion in restitutions; $1 billion in fines; $96 million in seizures; $320 million in civil restitution; and over $1 billion in civil settlements. The chart below reflects HCF pending cases from FY 2007 through FY 2011."

The link also gives some idea of case volume and significant cases:

Corporate fraud pending cases ranged from 529 for FY 2007 to 726 for FY 2011.

Securities and Commodities fraud pending cases: 1,217 FY 2007 to 1,846 FY 2011.

Mortgage fraud "suspicious activity reports.

FY 2007: 45,717. FY 2011: 93,508.

Dollar losses (millions), pending cases:

2007: $813, 1,199
2008: $1,491, 1,642
2009: $2,798, 2,794
2010: $3,238, 3,129
2011: $3,029, 2,691

Significant cases (various categories):*

Beazer Homes: Involved restitution of $50 million
Colonial Bank and Taylor, Bean & Whitaker: Attempt to fraudulently acquire $553 million in TARP funding.

Galleon Group: Insider trading. No specific amount, but Galleon had $7 billion in assets.

Joseph Blimline, Porvident Royalties: $485 million fraud against 7,700 investors.

A&O Entities: $50 million diverted to personal benefit, another $100 million in Ponzi scheme, totalling $150 million for the seven defendants.

Nicholas Cosmo: A "several-hundred-million-dollar Ponzi scheme". $179 in restitution.

_Health care_

Glaxosmithkline: "A $600 million civil settlement under the False Claims Act was agreed upon in addition to $150 million in criminal fines and forfeiture."

American Therapeutic Corporation: "its owners and operators of facilities have submitted approximately $205 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare".

_Mortgage fraud_

Luis Belevan, The Guardian Group: "defrauding at least 1,800 local distressed homeowners out of a $1,595 upfront fee for bogus promises of assistance .... Belevan generated almost $3 million in funds in just nine months"

Howard Shmuckler, the Schmuckler Group: "lients paid fees ranging from $2,500 to $25,000 to modify the terms of their mortgages" (no cumulative dollar amount specified).

Carl Cole, David Crisp: 140 fraudulent mortgage transactions on 108 properties with loans totaling $142 million.

_Financial Institutions_

Anthony Raguz: 1,000 fraudulent loans totalling $70 million, $1 m in bribes, etc., failure of St. Paul Croatian FCU for $170 million in losses.

Gary Foster, Citigroup: "embezzlement of more than $22 million from Citigroup."

William T. Hernandez: "ordered to pay $453,819 in restitution for embezzling money".

_Financial Institution Failures_

Donna Shebetich: "underreported millions of dollars in delinquent mortgages". Bank had $15.8 m in assets.

Elexa Manos: "a scheme to steal $4 million from the Dwelling House Savings & Loan".

Robert E. Maloney, Jr.: "a multi-million-dollar fraud and money laundering conspiracy." So, at least $2 million.

Other categories: insurance fraud, mass marketing fraud,

_Money laundering_

Barclays, NY: "This investigation resulted in the forfeiture of $298 million."

Credit Suisse: "This investigation resulted in the forfeiture of $536 million, which was the largest forfeiture ever received for this type of violation."

_Forensic Accountant_

Fair Finance: "over 5,000 victim-investors totaling approximately $200 million in loss."

Galleon Group: "largest hedge fund insider trading scheme in history." No dollar amount, but $7 billion in the fund per above.

American Therapeutic Corporation: restitution payments of $87 and 72.7 million, totalling $159.7 million.