Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? – quotes from Scott London sentencing hearing

A few quotes are filtering out in news reports about the sentencing today for Scott London over his admitted insider trading.

The Wall Street Journal provides the following quote in their article,Former KPMG Partner Scott London Gets 14 Months in Prison for Insider Trading:

“I deeply regret my actions,” Mr. London told the court. “I’m embarrassed and ashamed…I blame no one but myself.”

And the line from a Bloomberg Bloomberg BusinessWeek article remind me of the old joke, “Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?”

The readers over at Going Concern will light up over this one. From Bloomberg’s Ex-KPMG Auditor London Gets 14 Months in Insider-Trading Case:

“I’m at the core an honest person,” London, 51, told Wu. He asked the judge to give him a sentence of probation and community service.

From Stuart Pfeifer in the Los Angeles Times- KPMG partner who gave tips to golf buddy sentenced for insider trading. Mr. Pfeifer quotes Mr. London from an interview from a year ago with the Times:

“I have no idea what I was thinking,” he said shortly after he was fired. “I don’t know why there was a lapse of judgment but there was.”

Francine McKenna (@retheauditors) and Aaron Elstein (@InTheMkts) are tweeting about the use of passive voice in that comment.

Anyone know how to get the full text of a hearing in federal court? I know how to get rulings and filings through the PACER system, but not hearings. Any ideas?

4 thoughts on “Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? – quotes from Scott London sentencing hearing”

  1. looking on the bright side of this. Construction on the new tasting room should be finished in about 14 months,
    Scott can use his time to figure out how to put a label on a bottle of Pruno.

    Sorry That was unprofessional.

    1. Seth Godin says there is no reason not to know the meaning of a word, so I looked it up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruno. Pruno = prison wine.

      The additional piece of info on the comment is that sjenson has pointed out elsewhere in the comments that the Londons own a winery.

      Um. Well. Yeah a tad unprofessional, but since I’m the sole judge on the cutoff for posting, I’ll let it go. Thanks for taking time to comment. And expanding my vocabulary.

      Jim

  2. He is fooling himself if he thinks at the core he is an “honest” person. I don’t believe that for a second. Honest people don’t do what he did. Maybe he will really look at the core of “the man in the mirror” when he sits in prison.

    1. Hi Amy:

      On one hand, that was a comment to a judge made in an effort to minimize his jail time. Okay, I’ll grant him that. That is a poor argument because judges don’t sentence on the average. The probation office already gave credit for a clean record in the downward departure from sentencing guidelines.

      On the other hand, as you indicate, the comment does not imply that at a foundational level he has dealt with the issue that the core responsibility is on him. Christians know that sometimes (or usually) being a nice guy is irrelevant.

      For other readers, you need to remember that Mrs. Wilson did federal time for crimes. She knows what it means to take ownership. For a radical contrast on what it looks like to take responsibility for one’s actions, check out the posts I’ve written on her story: http://attestationupdate.com/tag/wilson/

      In particular, look at this post: http://attestationupdate.com/2013/03/29/taking-ownership/. That is a portrait of what it looks like to take responsibility.

      Thanks for your comment Amy.

      Jim

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