Robert M. Freeman

{{Short description|Convicted white-collar criminal}}

Robert M. Freeman (born ~1943){{Citation needed|reason=Surely an article with authority or notability has the exact birthdate|date=May 2023}} is an American stock broker and convicted felon who was a Goldman, Sachs & Co. partner. Freeman admitted to trading on inside information and pled guilty to mail fraud in 1989.{{cite news |last1=Stephen |first1=Labaton |title=Ex-Goldman Trader Enters a Guilty Plea |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/06/business/ex-goldman-trader-enters-a-guilty-plea.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=6 September 1989}}

The head of arbitrage at Goldman Sachs & Co., he was identified as a possible target in an insider trading scandal in November 1986,{{cite journal|last=Stolley|first=Richard B.|title=THE ORDEAL OF BOB FREEMAN|journal=Fortune|date=May 25, 1987|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1987/05/25/69058/|accessdate=14 February 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222131751/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1987/05/25/69058/|archivedate=22 February 2014}} and arrested on February 12, 1987.{{cite news|last=COHAN|first=WILLIAM D.|title=A Wall Street Witch Hunt|url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/a-wall-street-witch-hunt/|accessdate=14 February 2014|newspaper=New York Times|date=March 4, 2010}} The case was prosecuted by Rudolph Giuliani, then United States Attorney for the Southern District. According to the prosecutor, the case involved insider-trading information bought by Ivan Boesky from Martin A. Siegel, of Kidder, Peabody, who in turn got his information from Freeman.{{cite journal|last=Thomas Jr.|first=Landon|title=Cold Call|journal=New York Magazine|date=February 18, 2002|url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/bizfinance/columns/businessclass/5693/|accessdate=14 February 2014}} Freeman eventually pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, served four months in Federal Prison Camp, Pensacola at Saufley Field, Florida.{{cite news|last=COHAN|first=WILLIAM D.|title=Why Is Enough Never Enough?|url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/why-is-enough-never-enough/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0|accessdate=14 February 2014|newspaper=New York Times|date=April 27, 2011}} On June 7, 1993, he agreed with the SEC to a three-year suspension from the securities industry and to surrender $1.1 million, in connection with the 1986 leveraged buyout of Beatrice Companies Inc. by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.{{cite news|last=Associated Press|title=Freeman Agrees to $1.1-Million Fine, Suspension in Beatrice Deal|url=http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/robert-m-freeman|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304053528/http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/robert-m-freeman|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 4, 2014|accessdate=14 February 2014|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=June 8, 1993}}

In 2011, New York Times blogger William D. Cohan wrote that Freeman was an innocent victim of a prosecutorial "witch hunt," whose mail fraud conviction was unconnected to any insider trading. In reply, Seeking Alpha author Jonathan Bernstein described Freeman as a "guilty bystander" in the search for evidence against Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken. According to Bernstein, Freeman's mail fraud conviction "was actually about insider trading".{{cite news|last=Bernstein|first=Jonathan|title=NYT Blogger William Cohan Hearts Poor, Abused Goldman Sachs|url=http://seekingalpha.com/article/192337-nyt-blogger-william-cohan-hearts-poor-abused-goldman-sachs|work=March 7, 2010|date=7 March 2010 |publisher=Seeking Alpha|accessdate=14 February 2014}}