Natural Sapphire Co. CEO, Michael Arnstein, sentenced to prison

[MollyMalone]

Michael Arnstein -- the CEO of the Natural Sapphire Company and better known in other circles as a runner & "The Fruitarian" because of his promotion of eating only raw fruits and veggies -- was sentenced today to 9 months in federal prison. Upon his release from prison, he will be subject to 5 months of home detention under electronic movement monitoring and 2+ years of post-release supervision (i.e., parole supervision); he also is expected to pay a $20,000 fine and perform community service while on parole.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/p...hs-prison-forging-federal-court-orders-remove

In a pre-indictment plea bargain made last year, Arnstein pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiracy to commit forgery, arising out of his creation and transmission of about a dozen phony court orders to Google so that Google would remove web pages with unflattering reviews or comments about NSC from its search results. 4-5 threads here on the PS Colored Stones forum were among the targets of those forged court orders.

 

[ringo865]

Oh my!

 

[JPie]

Guess he can kiss his fruit diet goodbye.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Whoa....

 

[LinSF]

Pricescope related conviction!

That's fascinating, and seems like a harsher sentence than most white collar crimes of that sort get (which if course pales in comparison to other crime)? Fraud is awful!

 

[voce]

Regarding a harsher sentence, it's likely because he didn't just forge some other kind of document, but court orders. Judges take the legal system VERY seriously, so forging court orders is A LOT MORE SERIOUS than forging insurance papers or even checks.

 

[Lovinggems]

unbelievable

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

Ugh! If only he would have provided better customer service or lived with the bad reviews instead of forging court orders he wouldn't be dealing with prison.

 

[chatoyancy]

He sounds like a real class act.

 

[marcy]

I bought some trillion yellow sapphires from him to have made in to earrings. When my local jeweler was mounting the first one in dangles he found they were treated or coated (don’t remember exactly what he said) because the first one he was mounting changed color when it got heated during mounting. I tried to get a refund including the description of exactly what the jeweler said happened. My request was rejected by NSC because he said my jeweler obviously didn’t know what he was doing.

 

[voce]

@marcy the situation sounds strange...why would the sapphires need to be heated during mounting? Everything I've seen and read indicates first the mounting is made, and then the stones are set into the mounting. Never heard of having to expose the stones to heat during mounting; this should be avoided if at all possible.

 

[peacechick]

I bought some trillion yellow sapphires from him to have made in to earrings. When my local jeweler was mounting the first one in dangles he found they were treated or coated (don’t remember exactly what he said) because the first one he was mounting changed color when it got heated during mounting. I tried to get a refund including the description of exactly what the jeweler said happened. My request was rejected by NSC because he said my jeweler obviously didn’t know what he was doing.

Umm, if you bought unheated sapphires, what was your jeweller doing heating them?

 

[Anne111]

Poor fellow, Arnold, I mean, Sure he regrets whatever he did: Lucky he wasn't sentenced in France or he would also get to know medieval prison conditions, not that US's are nice, but did you see the room they gave the guy who killed dozend of labor party kids on that island in Norway? His room would get 3stars in a holiday in with view on forests.

 

[chatoyancy]

Poor fellow, Arnold, I mean, Sure he regrets whatever he did: Lucky he wasn't sentenced in France or he would also get to know medieval prison conditions, not that US's are nice, but did you see the room they gave the guy who killed dozend of labor party kids on that island in Norway? His room would get 3stars in a holiday in with view on forests.

Poor fellow? He broke the law, several times, by the sounds of it. I never bought from him, but it sounds like he was often a jerk to deal with too.

 

[Bluegemz]

He broke the law. It doesn’t mean he’s bad though. He definitely behaved badly and therein lies the difference. I do feel empathy because his life is probably destroyed now. He might have kids and will have a harder time getting employed again. I feel sorry for the families in such situations.

In general, It is deeply disturbing to me that while smaller white collar crimes get punished, the really big ones by wealthy serial perpetrators which affect vast amounts of people in economic and social ways don’t. They break the law constantly.

 

[bludiva]

He broke the law. It doesn’t mean he’s bad though. He definitely behaved badly and therein lies the difference. I do feel empathy because his life is probably destroyed now. He might have kids and will have a harder time getting employed again. I feel sorry for the families in such situations.

In general, It is deeply disturbing to me that while smaller white collar crimes get punished, the really big ones by wealthy serial perpetrators which affect vast amounts of people in economic and social ways don’t. They break the law constantly.

They don't just break the laws constantly, they get the laws changed so things that should be illegal aren't. Corruption of the highest order. :/

 

[Arcadian]

@Bluegemz I don't totally disagree with your last statement, but its also because of the green and also the agency thats going after you. However, he got little more than a slap on the wrist and some vacation time at club fed. My tiny violin plays for him.

 

[MollyMalone]

He broke the law. It doesn’t mean he’s bad though. He definitely behaved badly and therein lies the difference. I do feel empathy because his life is probably destroyed now. He might have kids and will have a harder time getting employed again. I feel sorry for the families in such situations. * * *

Doubt Michael Arnstein is worried about employment. I'm willing to bet my own next paycheck that he is going to continue as President-CEO of the Natural Sapphire Company. It's a 3rd-generation family business
https://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.com/t-our_company/
that's actually formally incorporated in NY as Walter Arnstein, Inc. (named after his grandfather who started the business).

Pricescope related conviction!
That's fascinating, and seems like a harsher sentence than most white collar crimes of that sort get (which if course pales in comparison to other crime)? Fraud is awful!

Seems that there's some misunderstanding about the sentences given to those convicted, either at trial or upon their plea of guilty, of white collar crimes in the federal courts. The only white collar crime that's treated relatively lightly is embezzlement; where embezzlement is the convicted federal defendant's primary ("top count") offense, not quite 69% nationwide get no prison time, but rather probation or a combination of probation and "confinement". See Tables 4-5 and 7 in the most recent, annual statistical report from the U.S. Sentencing Commission that shows-compares the kinds of sentences given in various categories of offenses and the mean-median lengths of prison terms in all US federal courts & in the 2nd Circuit (covers the federal trial courts in NY, CT, and VT). You'll see that Arnstein's 9-month prison sentence is on the lower end of prison terms imposed for white collar crimes in the US.
https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/...atistics/state-district-circuit/2017/2c17.pdf

* * * In general, It is deeply disturbing to me that while smaller white collar crimes get punished, the really big ones by wealthy serial perpetrators which affect vast amounts of people in economic and social ways don’t. They break the law constantly.

Is there someone in particular that you're thinking of?

 

[Bluegemz]

Doubt Michael Arnstein is worried about employment. I'm willing to bet my own next paycheck that he is going to continue as President-CEO of the Natural Sapphire Company. It's a 3rd-generation family business
https://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.com/t-our_company/
that's actually formally incorporated in NY as Walter Arnstein, Inc. (named after his grandfather who started the business).

Seems that there's some misunderstanding about the sentences given to those convicted, either at trial or upon their plea of guilty, of white collar crimes in the federal courts. The only white collar crime that's treated relatively lightly is embezzlement; where embezzlement is the convicted federal defendant's primary ("top count") offense, not quite 69% nationwide get no prison time, but rather probation or a combination of probation and "confinement". See Tables 4-5 and 7 in the most recent, annual statistical report from the U.S. Sentencing Commission that shows-compares the kinds of sentences given in various categories of offenses and the mean-median lengths of prison terms in all US federal courts & in the 2nd Circuit (covers the federal trial courts in NY, CT, and VT). You'll see that Arnstein's 9-month prison sentence is on the lower end of prison terms imposed for white collar crimes in the US.
https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/...atistics/state-district-circuit/2017/2c17.pdf

Is there someone in particular that you're thinking of?

Plenty .. but Dont want to vent about them. It was a general statement of worry about ‘the state of things’.

 

[LinSF]

No misunderstanding, but I won’t pretend to be an attorney or know the law particulars. It just seems to me, as a generality, that white collar crime sentences are fairly lenient. In my industry I have seen people steal 10s of millions from business/individuals, and the sentences are light. We’re talking SEC violations, embezzlement, etc. They walk away whole and with just a smidge of tarnish on their reputation.

You seem well versed, my comment was as a lay person might interpret sentences I’ve seen over time for what I consider to be egregious abuse of power and trust in an industry that makes serious economic contributions and has a large effect on the general populous.

 

[chatoyancy]

He broke the law. It doesn’t mean he’s bad though. He definitely behaved badly and therein lies the difference. I do feel empathy because his life is probably destroyed now. He might have kids and will have a harder time getting employed again. I feel sorry for the families in such situations.

In general, It is deeply disturbing to me that while smaller white collar crimes get punished, the really big ones by wealthy serial perpetrators which affect vast amounts of people in economic and social ways don’t. They break the law constantly.

I have a personal friend whose ex husband was paying child support for her four children. He went to federal prison and her children suffered for it. I do feel for the families who have nothing to do with the criminal activities.