Thursday, April 3, 2008
Law Prof Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Accepting $240k in Kickbacks From Students
From the Associated Press:
A judge has sentenced a German law professor to three years in prison for accepting kickbacks from doctoral students. The Hannover university professor, whose identity was not revealed, confessed to accepting euro156,000 (US$240,000) to serve as a faculty adviser to 68 doctorate students between 1998 and 2005.
Judge Peter Peschka called it "a very severe case of corruption" on Wednesday. The professor said he needed the money to renovate his Hamburg mansion.
(Hat Tip: Ben Cunningham.)
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2008/04/law-prof-senten.html
At first I thought: well, at least he get the big bucks (US$240,000). But then the I saw it was 68 students: which brings it to approx. US$3,500 a pop.
I would never understand who would ruin their career over a couple of grand. I'm not saying I'd take a quarter mil, but I could understand how someone--possibly in dire financial straights--could take a bribe that big (potentially equal to a year or 2 years salary).
Also, pretty amazing that he was able to take 68 bribes over a period of 7 years. The only way 2 people can keep a secret is if one of them is dead. You'd figure someone would have opened his mouth sooner with that long a period and that many people involved.
Posted by: Adjunct Law Prof. | Apr 3, 2008 11:50:15 AM