Sholam Weiss has time on his hands — 845 years, a record for white-collar crime.

Convicted life-insurance swindler Sholam Weiss has time on his hands — 845 years, a record for white-collar crime. Today in Atlanta his attorney appealed for his client to be resentenced in hopes of shaving off a little time — about 800 years worth.
The Associated Press tells the tale of the Scranton, Pa., man, who 10 years ago in Florida was convicted of stealing $125 million from customers of National Heritage Life Insurance Co. The Orlando firm collapsed in 1994 and nearly all 25,000 policy holders lost their life savings. The federal judge said Weiss should be put away forever and handed down the record sentence. (Bernard Maddoff got only 150 years for his multibillion Ponzi scheme.)But before he was found guilty, Weiss, who weighed 250 pounds and wore a beard, went on the lam for eight months until being arrested in October 2000 in Austria. His attorney argued today in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that the Justice Department reneged on a promise to resentence Weiss in exchange for Austria agreeing to extradite him. The U.S. government said no such deal was ever promised.Expect a ruling in the months ahead. Meantime, Weiss sits in the federal penitentiary near Scranton.