The Manhattan district attorney is recommending the maximum sentence for former Dewey & LeBoeuf chief financial officer Joel Sanders, urging a New York judge that a prison sentence is “absolutely warranted” because he hasn't taken responsibility for his actions and his “lies put others' money at risk but never his own.”

While Sanders has urged Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Robert Stolz to impose no jail time—his convictions do not require a prison term—the maximum sentence is one and a third to fours years.

In a new court filing, prosecutors said anything but prison time for Sanders “will simply foster the misguided notion that an executive can lie and scheme to obtain money, as long as he is doing so to try to keep a business afloat, even if he harms others and ensures his own pockets are lined.”