A U.S. district judge on Monday sentenced former Just for Feet EVP Don-Allen Ruttenberg to spend 20 months in prison and pay a $50,000 fine. Ruttenberg, son of JFF founder Harold Ruttenberg, received the sentence based on his April 2004 guilty plea to conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and submitting and making false statements to JFFs auditors, Deloitte & Touche. He is to report June 30 for his prison term.
Jurors reportedly deliberated for about three hours as they weighed the legitimacy of the $5.13 million figure that D&T associated with the fraud as well as the lighter sentences levied so far in the case.
The sentence is the toughest penalty handed down in a case that has seen a number of former JFF and vendor execs plead guilty to charges related to the retailers 1999 bankruptcy. Ruttenberg was seen as the central figure in efforts to pressure vendors to provide false letters of confirmation for JFF's audit, efforts that have led to at least one other jail term by a former sales exec and a number of fines and home detentions.
Ruttenberg has also settled an SEC suit filed last year, paying a $50,000 fine and $57,000 in restitution.
>>> One would hope that this would close the books on this case, but the SEC is still attempting to extract settlements from others
