Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: How Following Orders Can be the Wrong Choice

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From Harold’s plea agreement:

 “Upon being notified that he was a target of the federal investigation, Katz retained counsel, and through counsel, immediately began cooperating with the authorities. He answered all the questions that law enforcement agents and prosecutors asked him. He acknowledged his own conduct. He testified before the grand jury and described to the grand jury the operations of Lancelot and the round trip transactions. Katz walked the grand jury through a packet of documents that illustrated a specific round trip transaction.

The Court should also, however, factor in to its sentencing decision the gravity of Katz’s conduct. He is a CPA, a person who by virtue of the role his profession plays in the business and financial system is expected by society to guard against fraud, and is not a person who should become complicit in fraud himself. Katz had not only been an audit accountant - the sine qua non of the accounting profession’s function as protector of financial integrity - he had audited Lancelot itself, more than once.”

Caption: Harold discusses his plea agreement.