Former Merrill Lynch stock broker Steven Mandala strolled into court yesterday under the impression that he'd secured a lenient plea deal with the Manhattan DA, who's charged him with second-degree larceny, among other things. But Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman put the kibosh on all that, reacting "incredulously" to the news that Mandala would plead guilty in exchange for one-year in jail and repaying half of the $765,000 he fraudulently took from the firm.

"You steal money, you give it back, and you avoid prison?" Berkman asked as she refused to approve the settlement. "I don't get it. I thought three to nine years was more appropriate." And during one testy exchange with Mandala's lawyer, Judge Berkman reportedly snapped, "I'm sorry I interrupted you while I was talking." (We'll be working that one into conversation at the earliest opportunity.)

You'll recall that Mandala, who is in jail in lieu of $500,000 bail, allegedly forged pay stubs and tax returns to convince headhunters at Merrill Lynch that he was a hot-shot partner at Maxim Group who managed $300 million worth of assets. (He was not.) Merrill lured him away with a $780,000 loan last April, and a week after depositing the loan into his parents' bank account, he bought a red Ferrari for $245,580. Merrill's lawyers say Mandala ran a savage burn on the firm, rarely showing up for work, then quitting by e-mail and keeping the loan money.

Yesterday Judge Berkman demanded to know if Merrill, now owned by Bank of America, approved of the plea bargain, asking, "Don't they have potential liability with the people who trust them with their money?" (HA. Ha ha ha ha.) As for the Ferrari, Assistant DA Vimi Bhatia told the judge, "The Ferrari has been returned to them and they're in the process of auctioning it."