A judge in Manhattan today sentenced 71-year old Bernard Madoff to 150 year in prison for running a 50 billion dollar Ponzi-scheme. 

Okay, the AHOLD financial scandal was of a different scale, but the reasoning of the Court of Appeals was as fraud as the growth strategy Cees van der Hoeven and Michiel Meurs pursued. The sentences (Van der Hoeven 30K euro fine and Michiel Meurs 100K euro fine plus 240 hours public service) were a farce.  The court (Hof Amsterdam) focused solely on the number of investors that might have been influenced by the fraudulent side-letters and simply ignored the outrageous growth projections Van der Hoeven made at road shows.