Crime and Punishment: Judge Orders Book Written as Community Service

Former Bristol-Myers Squibb Senior Vice-President of Strategy Andrew Bodnar has a Jan. 31 deadline for his first 75,000-word novel. But it's not agents and publishers breathing down his neck, it's federal District Judge Ricardo Urbina in Washington, D.C., who sentenced the convicted exec with a unique interpretation of community service.

Found guilty of lying to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2009 about a pharmaceutical patent deal run amok, Bodnar has been ordered to write a book about his experience. Which, I suppose, ends up being very similar to house arrest, but I digress.

The non-fiction account is meant to be a cautionary tale for aspiring white collar criminals everywhere, and (spoiler alert) justice wins out in the end.

According to Jim Edwards, of Bnet, Judge Urbina directed Bodnar to make the story, "useful and instructive," and, "maybe, possibly inspirational."

Anyone who's ever stared down a blank page and felt an onset of panic might praise the judge for discovering an economically savvy -- and humane =- way to put offenders through their own personal hell. To stiffen the sentence, I'd like to suggest making him shop for an agent when he's done. Torture.

via walletpop.com

Posted via email from Jack's posterous