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Speaker 1: Now it's time for our daily Bloomberg Law Brief, exploring

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Speaker 1: legal issues in the news, brought to you by American

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Speaker 1: Arbitration Association. Business disputes are inevitable. Resolve fester with the

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Speaker 1: American Arbitration Association, the global leader in alternative dispute resolution

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Speaker 1: for over ninety years. More at a d r dot org. Today,

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Law host in Grasso and Gregg's Store discuss why

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Speaker 1: a Manhattan judge handed down a life sentence for Ross

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Speaker 1: William Olbricht, the founder of the online drug Bizarre Silk Road.

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Speaker 1: They speak to Bloomberg Legal reporter Bob van Voris, So,

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Speaker 1: drug dealers with no criminal history don't normally get such

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Speaker 1: long sentences. What was it about this case that was different? Well,

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Speaker 1: there were a lot of factors that the sentencing judge,

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Speaker 1: Katherine Forrest in Manhattan, pointed to in sentencing him to life.

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Speaker 1: Among other things, Ross William Albricht uh tried to arrange

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Speaker 1: for the murders of five people. Uh. Now the were

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Speaker 1: online people, people using aliases and uh in a sort

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Speaker 1: of house of mirrors kind of a fact, the police

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Speaker 1: weren't able to figure out whether anybody actually was killed.

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Speaker 1: They think that probably none of these murders were carried out.

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Speaker 1: But in any case, Albert paid sifty thousand dollars to

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Speaker 1: put out contracts on people who were trying, who were

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Speaker 1: threatening to expose him and to expose other people on

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Speaker 1: the On the site, Bob You wrote that the Circuit

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Speaker 1: of Judges the panel showed empathy for his claim that

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Speaker 1: the sentence is too harsh, but said it had to

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Speaker 1: follow rules. But don't trial judges have leeway with the

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Speaker 1: sentencing rules. Some judges, like Judge Jed Raikoff, don't believe

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Speaker 1: in maxing out all defendants under the federal sentencing guidelines.

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Speaker 1: That's exactly right. And Judge Lynch on the course of

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Speaker 1: has written about this in the past. He has been skeptical.

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Speaker 1: He was the author of the hundred and thirty nine

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Speaker 1: paid opinion, and he in the past has been skeptical

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Speaker 1: of using the criminal law to address drug use a

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Speaker 1: drug trafficking and suggested that maybe this is not the

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Speaker 1: best approach, and certainly the extreme sentences handed down to

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Speaker 1: people who use and sell drugs maybe is not wise,

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Speaker 1: but that's the law right now. And the judge, the

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Speaker 1: sensing judge said forrest under the law had a great

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Speaker 1: deal of discretion and UH imposed the maximum of life

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Speaker 1: against against Albert, who's thirty three years old and faced

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Speaker 1: a very very long time in prison. That is Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: News Legal reporter Bob Van Voris speaking to Bloomberg Law House,

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Speaker 1: Student Grosso and Gregg Store And you can listen to

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Law weekdays at one pm Moll Street time here

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Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio Now. Among the top legal stories from

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Law, jury in Connecticut will decide when lying about

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Speaker 1: moons to customers becomes fraud. Jurors will decide the fate

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Speaker 1: of three former Nomura traders accused of using false price

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Speaker 1: information to sell bonds. The defendants say their tactics were

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Speaker 1: commonplace and didn't deceive their customers. Plus their lawyers, as

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Speaker 1: prosecutors failed to show they knew their tactics were illegal.

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Speaker 1: And that's this morning's Bloomberg Lab reef. You can find

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Speaker 1: more legal news at Bloomberg Law dot com and Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: b n A dot Com. Attorneys will find exceptional legal

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Speaker 1: research and business development tools there as well. Visit Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Law dot com and Bloomberg BNA dot com for more

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Speaker 1: information