Robert Willis

Los Angeles Times
INSIDE-TRADING PSYCHIATRIST IS SPARED JAIL;
SECURITIES: A NEW YORK MAN WHO OBTAINED STOCK INFORMATION FROM A PATIENT — THE WIFE OF A TOP EXECUTIVE — GETS PROBATION AND A $150,000 FINE.
January 8, 1992

— Excerpt

A psychiatrist who traded stocks on inside information about BankAmerica Corp. that he learned while treating the wife of financier Sanford Weill was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation and fined $150,000.

The sentence was surprisingly light, as the presiding judge had been highly critical of the psychiatrist, Robert Willis, 52, of Tenafly, N.J., for betraying the trust of his patient.

Willis had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of securities fraud for trading in BankAmerica stock based on inside information. He faced a maximum 10-year prison term and fines of $500,000…

U.S. District Judge Miriam Cedarbaum said she had “serious misgivings” about not sending Willis to prison but believed that he had accepted full responsibility for his actions by cooperating with the government and making restitution.

She said, however, that she could not ignore the “aggravated nature of this crime.”…

“You violated your traditional duty of loyalty and sworn obligation to protect your patient’s secrets,” Cedarbaum told Willis. She said she hoped that he recognized the “reprehensible nature” of his conduct and that he would never again “yield to temptation.”