RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: NPR's business news starts with the sentencing of a financial fraudster.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: Prosecutors wanted 145 years, but the judge said Marc Dreier was no Madoff, and he gave the once high-flying New York lawyer 20 years in prison. That closed the book on one of the cases that played out in the shadow of the Bernard Madoff saga. Dreier's scam involved fake promissory notes. He used them to steal about $400 million from hedge funds and other investors. He also stole tens of millions from his clients.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: In a letter to the judge, Dreier wrote that he started his scam seven years ago because he was earning a mere $400,000, and he felt a sense of inferiority compared to colleagues and his clients. He embarked on a lavish lifestyle and got sucked into what he himself described as a quicksand of spending.
A once-prominent Manhattan attorney was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison. Marc Dreier, 59, had pleaded guilty to a $400 million scheme that involved fake promissory notes.