The Costs of Defending Securities Crime

Judge Kaplan, in his opinion dismissing the federal charges against 13 defendants in the KPMG tax shelter case, gives us some staggering numbers about what a high-powered defense in a securities criminal case costs: "These have included costs of $14.9 million (Kumar -- Computer Associates), $17.7 million and $8 million for each of two trials (Kozlowski -- Tyco), $24 million (Shelton -- Cendant), $25 million (Rigases -- Adelphia), $32 million (Scrushy -- HealthSouth), and $25 and $70 million (Lay and Skilling, respectively -- Enron)."  All of these, the judge noted, "involved far fewer documents and far shorter trials than this case will require."