University Diaries » “In his bid for leniency, Martoma mentions his 1999 expulsion from Harvard Law School for faking a transcript of his grades, arguing that he has been ‘punished enough’ by having the episode publicized at his trial.”

Oh honey. Why not tell the judge the whole story of your grade faking? If the judge knows everything, leniency will be that much more lenient. So let’s see. Here are the details:

In late 1998, [Mathew] Martoma, a graduate of Duke, altered the transcript of his first-year law school grades: He gave himself A’s in Civil Procedure, Contracts, and Criminal Law, rather than the B, B+, and B he’d earned, according to a Harvard Administrative Board report. He applied for clerkships with 23 judges using the altered transcripts. Weeks later, someone in the school’s registrar’s office discovered that the transcript had been changed. Martoma then withdrew the clerkship applications and told Harvard that the doctored transcripts had been sent out by mistake.

In a classic example of how the coverup is usually worse than the crime, Martoma appealed his dismissal from Harvard by arguing that he’d withdrawn the applications before he was caught and that the improper transcripts had been submitted accidentally. His efforts apparently involved creating a fake computer data forensics company, complete with a professional-looking marketing flyer, to corroborate the time stamps of his e-mails.

You didn’t just change a few grades! You created a whole fake company! You’ve got like seven aliases! You’re a real criminal, and because of your insider trading trial everyone knows it, and the fact of everyone knowing is a real source of suffering for you.

You see the same grounds for leniency in mafia trials in southern Italy. Yes, your honor, I’m a career piece of shit, but until now with omertà and all no one said it out loud. Show some mercy.

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Notes of a Neophyte

Alan Allport Says:
June 3rd, 2014 at 12:16PM

“Those letters speak with one voice describing Mr. Martoma as a uniquely devoted husband and father, a man who puts his family above all else — the glue that holds together three young children,” Strassberg wrote.

Quite apart from the barf-up-your-lunch sleaziness of the above, isn’t there something a little weird about that image of three kids being glued together by their jailbird pop?

Margaret Soltan Says:
June 3rd, 2014 at 1:34PM

Alan: Yes – I was also struck by the really weird wording of that – in fact, his attorneys in general seem awfully bad with language. It would have been far better for them to admit that he’s a career criminal, starting from a startlingly young age, but to go on to suggest that since he’s still young he’s possibly able to be rehabilitated.

The whole “great father” thing is a real non-starter: Martoma’s astounding greed is far more real to him than any child.

Van L. Hayhow Says:
June 3rd, 2014 at 6:12PM

Well, you have to say something. I remember one client who entered a plea in federal court to dealing crack. He was 25 years old, had worked two jobs in his life, each of which lasted one month, he had 5 children by 5 different women and his current girlfriend was pregnant. The judge said the only thing my client was good at was impregnating women.

Margaret Soltan Says:
June 3rd, 2014 at 7:27PM

Van: LOL!

Robert T Says:
June 4th, 2014 at 10:42AM

Pleeesseee. This guy needs to go away for a very long time. He is a greedy big fish that finally got caught and would not have stopped until he did. No charity, but a big house for himself.

Say goodbye to the wife and kids. They will be fine without a criminal in the house.

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