Nacchio Profits: The Tenth Circuit in United States v. Nacchio Properly Departs from the Eighth Circuit in United States v.Mooney and Adopts the Civil Remedy of Disgorgement to Measure an Inside Trader's Gain under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines

Abstract

INTRODUCTION|In 1984, Congress enacted the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 ("Reform Act") with the basic objective of forming a fair and effective sentencing system. The Reform Act empowered the United States Sentencing Commission ("Sentencing Commission") to develop detailed rules prescribing suitable sentences for those convicted of federal crimes. The Sentencing Commission promulgated the Federal Sentencing Guidelines ("Guidelines") pursuant to the Reform Act. The Guidelines establish categories of offender characteristics and offense behavior and set out appropriate sentencing ranges for an offender based on the coordination of these two categories. Section 2B1.4 of the Guidelines pertains to the sentencing of offenders convicted of insider trading. If an inside trader's "gain resulting from the offense" is greater than $5,000, the inside trader's offense level can be increased up to thirty levels...