Before Prison - Future Inmates Get in Their Vacation - Forbes
Madoff’s accountant, or guy who posed as his accountant, David Friehling, had his sentencing postponed from last Friday (March 23) to October 26, 2012. Friehling was arrested in March 2009, pled guilty in November of that year and was then scheduled to be sentenced on February 26, 2010. Since then, his sentencing has been postponed 5 times, each time moving it out six more months. So while Madoff has been in prison serving his 150 years, what has Friehling been up to? He’s been traveling like many other white-collar felons awaiting prison.
When Friehling was first arrested and then posted bond, his travel restrictions were that he had to stay in the jurisdictions of the Southern District of NY, Eastern District of NY and New Jersey. Traveling beyond those boundaries would require permission from a federal judge. According to the docket of motions filed in Friehling’s case, there are a number of entries for permission to travel to Nashville, TN – Durham, NC – Pompano Beach,FL- Rochester, NY – Southern California –Atlanta, GA – Washington, DC – Albany, NY – Columbus, OH. Sounds like a lot of frequent flyer miles. I’m sure it makes for interesting conversation with the person next him on the plane, “I’m actually out of work as an accountant and waiting a significant prison sentence….blah, blah, blah….”
I had written a piece on inmates who travel on America’s commercial and rail lines to transfer between prisons WHILE they are still incarcerated. A number of comments were that people were shocked that an inmate could be sitting next to them on the train. SURPRISE. The person sitting next to you could also be waiting to be sentenced to 114 years in prison, as Mr. Friehling is according to his plea agreement. Such are the advantages of cooperating with the government that one gets to get out of town to stretch their legs.
In another case, Samir Barai, who has pled guilty and is awaiting sentencing, is cooperating with authorities and he too is doing some traveling. Barai was arrested in February 2011 and had pled guilty by May for his role in an insider trading scheme. Like Friehling, Barai was restricted to travel in parts of New York and New Jersey, but due to his cooperation in the ongoing investigation, he too is also making the rounds. Since his plea agreement, Barai has traveled to Cape Cod, MA – Portsmouth, RI – Westborough, MA – Las Vegas, NV – Florida – California. Others involved in the same case are Noah Freeman and Jason Pflaum, both of whom are awaiting sentencing. Those two have no travel restrictions within the U.S. according to their dockets. So why not travel !?
However, life waiting to be sentenced to prison is not much better than being in prison. I recently spoke with Garrett Bauer, who has pled guilty to insider trading and is scheduled to be sentenced May 1st and may receive up to 11 years in prison. Bauer told me, “This time just seems a bit surreal right now. In some ways, it is like I am already in prison since I don’t work nor can I make any plans.” Currently, Bauer spends his days giving lectures on his case to universities and volunteers for non-profit groups. ”I’ve volunteered for years but now it is the focus of why I get up every day. I travel some, but really only to do a few speeches,” he said.
I don’t think there is much to fear from these gentlemen but once they all cross that chasm into prison, they somehow become more sinister…or so many believe. Until then, they remain searching for that last memory to take with them to prison.