Yesterday in federal appeals court, Matthew Kluger asked the court to reduce his record sentence and help return the title of "longest sentence for insider trading" back to Raj Rajaratnam (11 years).

In June 2012, Kluger, an attorney, gained the dubious distinction of receiving the longest sentence ever handed down for insider trading--12 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Katharine Hayden gave Kluger the dirty dozen-sentence despite the fact that Kluger pleaded guilty to the charges against him; accepted responsibility and expressed remorse for his actions; and made only about $500,000 in illegal profits. 

Judge Hayden noted at the time that she found Kluger's conduct to have been "amoral" and "thuggish," and that his crime of insider trading allowed "greedy, arrogant people to make money off others." She also emphasized that she was sentencing him more harshly because he abused his position of trust as a lawyer. Indeed, Judge Hayden sentenced a co-defendant in the same case who made $32 million in illegal profits, trader Garrett Bauer, to only nine years in prison.

Kluger expressed his frustration with the sentence, referencing Rajaratnam, who only received an 11-year sentence for insider trading in an unrelated case: "I guess it's better to take $68 million and go to trial and be unwilling to accept responsibility for what you did," Kluger said at the time, while vowing to appeal.

Yesterday, Bloomberg reports, the Third Circuit heard Kluger's appeal arguing that his crime did not merit such a lengthy sentence. His attorney, Harvey Weissbard, argued that Judge Hayden erred by not considering the relatively small amount of money Kluger gained from the scheme. “Doesn't the amount that he got, that he profited in comparison to someone like Bauer, have any meaning?” Weissbard asked.

Arguing for the government in favor of the sentence, Caroline Sadlowski said it was Kluger's character that most influenced Hayden's sentence. Sadlowski argued that Kluger's character and the 17-year duration of the scheme distinguished Kluger from other defendants and “the amount of money shouldn't control the sentencing guidelines.”