Anna Gristina, the “Soccer Mom Madam,” also ran a multi-million dollar Manhattan escort agency. She was meeting with a senior VP of Morgan Stanley, reportedly discussing how to expand her online business, when the cops barged in. This was the culmination of a five year investigation, all while during the height of the financial crisis! She forfeited millions of dollars and just like Kristin Davis she too served four months at Rikers Island in 2012. A few other escort agencies have been shut down in the area as New York authorities have demonstrated a priority towards the oldest profession over white collar crime.
Wall Street has been given a free pass, yet the federal government has dedicated extensive resources into prosecuting Internet…show more content… And that makes the draconian measures in one particular case by the New York District Attorney’s office all the more unsettling. Robert Stuart developed a legal, licensed software that is popular among offshore gambling companies. He wasn’t involved in any other way with a sportsbook, yet he was arrested in 2012. “It’s overreaching where they’re going after a software developer who sells the software with a legal license,” Stuart told Wired Magazine. However, Stuart avoided prosecution by signing a plea agreement in expectation that he would develop software for hacking the bookmakers and their clients. Although, Stuart later backed out of that plea deal because he refused to be a part of such a clear privacy violation. As a result, he was subsequently charged with a felony count of promoting gambling in the first degree in the state of New…show more content… The people who support these kinds of cases are the ones who are truly “soft on crime” because it gives freedom to the worst offenders. These vice cases are an easy way for the government to establish a public perception of “law and order” while avoiding the hard work necessary to combat actual criminal activity. Plus, asset forfeitures are easy spoils of war in gambling cases. Likewise, these petty cases result in promotions for the police, lawyers, and politicians involved and that demonstrates a fundamental crisis of leadership in the American