In a rebuff to prosecutors seeking stiffer punishment, admitted municipal bond deal-rigger David Rubin has been sentenced to two years of probation in connection with his role in dealings that further endangered already–financially vulnerable cities such as Detroit.
Prosecutors had recommended that Rubin—who pleaded guilty in 2011 to manipulating municipal bond investments to benefit himself, his business, CDR Financial Products, and the large banks with which he worked with at the expense of the hard-pressed cities issuing the instruments—serve at least 19 years in prison. Several bankers have been charged and convicted in connection with the scheme, while other cases are pending. Rubin, who lives in Southern California and is an active philanthropist there, was criminally charged in October 2010.
The New York Times notes that Rubin’s sentence, handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan, was unusual because of the way his personal circumstances came into play. In sentencing Rubin, the Times reports, Wood said a prison term would be “a gross injustice,” because his wife is being treated for pancreatic cancer and the couple have seven children, three of them minors.
Wood also weighed Rubin’s cooperation with federal prosecutors and the testimony he provided in a related case involving a former UBS banker convicted in 2012.
According to the Time, Wood described Rubin’s work with authorities “as a sign that he was getting ‘back on the right path,’ and added, ‘Mr. Rubin’s character is now strong.’”
Rubin himself showed remorse for his misdeeds during the sentencing proceedings “I am truly sorry,” he told Wood, according to the Times report. “I do not want this to be my legacy, and I will spend the rest of my days working to restore myself in the eyes of my family and friends.”
Rubin’s lawyer, Bradley Simon, of Simon & Partners said in an interview with law.com Thursday that it was not only his wife’s illness, but also Rubin’s “lifetime of good works that he has done, a lifetime full of productivity and good deeds and good work” that led to what Simon called “a very just sentence, and an appropriate sentence.”
Forbes.com noted that “prosecutors seemed to want a stiffer penalty for Rubin than the one handed down,” but had not registered a complaint about the sentence.
