Former Ropes & Gray associate Brien Santarlas was ordered to serve six months in prison yesterday for stealing inside information on firm clients in return for money from Zvi Goffer. While crediting Mr. Santarlas for cooperating in the case that led to the conviction of Mr. Goffer, his brother Emanuel Goffer, and Michael Kimelman in June, Southern District Judge Richard Sullivan said he was unwilling to give Mr. Santarlas a non-custodial sentence.
Mr. Santarlas, 34, immediately confessed to the FBI when he was approached in November 2009 and wore a wire used to record fellow Ropes & Gray associate and co-conspirator Arthur Cutillo discussing the conspiracy. He pleaded guilty one month later and went on to provide what Judge Sullivan termed “crucial” testimony, detailing how he and Mr. Cutillo fed information on transactions involving firm clients to another attorney, Jason Goldfarb, who then passed it on to the Goffers and Mr. Kimelman, all in return for $32,500 in payments to all three attorneys.
