Dreier Describes Downfall in Letter Seeking 'Rational' Term for Fraud, Theft

Dreier Describes Downfall in Letter Seeking 'Rational' Term for Fraud, Theft - 7-9-2009 , Class Action News, Class Action, Securities News, shareholder class action, claim, litigation, securities action, common stock'>

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Dreier Describes Downfall in Letter Seeking 'Rational' Term for Fraud, Theft
Mark Hamblett

New York Law Journal. July 9, 2009
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EXCERPT: Marc S. Dreier on Wednesday sent a confessional letter to the federal judge who will sentence him on Monday, describing in remarkable detail how he funded the once-admired expansion of Dreier LLP by committing frauds totaling more than $400 million. Facing a recommendation from the government that he serve the rest of his life in prison but pleading for a measured sentence, Dreier, 59, said his seven-year downward spiral began with a simple theft from a client settlement fund and ended at the point where "I found myself running a massive Ponzi scheme with no apparent way out." Dreier's letter was submitted as defense attorney Gerald L. Shargel and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan R. Streeter sent competing memos to Southern District of New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff taking a dramatically different view of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. Dreier claimed that selling bogus promissory notes to investors was part of an attempt to salvage the 250-plus lawyer firm he founded, but he also acknowledged a taste for the good life that led him to dig a deeper hole with each fraudulent scheme. "At the beginning, I spent most of the money growing the law firm," he said, "But as time went on, I was more and more self-indulgent. I bought extravagant things -- a beach house, an apartment, a boat, expensive art." Dreier said that he always believed he would get the money needed to compensate his victims, but he could not. "It all seems so obviously deplorable now," he said. "I recall only that I was desperate for some measure of success that I felt had eluded me. I felt that my law firm was my last chance to make a mark for myself and I was fearful of seeing it fail." Later, Dreier said, "I will always be remembered as a thief."

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