Think White Collar Prison is Club Fed? It’s not… |

“I don’t want to go to jail,” is a statement often heard on a trading desk. Sometimes it’s said jokingly, but other times it has more merit. The fear of doing hard time bounces from the conscious to the subconscious for an aggressive trader. It never goes away.

And who wants to go to prison? Not a Wall Street executive. I don’t think penny loafers and sweater vests go over very well down in the yard. And a front-row ticket to the Jay Z & Eminem concert last spring doesn’t buy you street cred on the inside. It’s a scary thought.

Even when you do things by the book; there’s always a level of fear on Wall Street.