Seen in one light, America has an epidemic of corporate crime. Companies like United, Boeing, Wells Fargo and Walmart attract *hundreds* of government enforcement actions.
But these companies almost never end up facing criminal charges - instead, they get "leniency agreements," which they violate, again and again (United's done this *533 times*).
Functionally, the USA doesn't have a corporate criminal law system at all, even though corporations commit 20x more crimes than natural persons, and their crimes attain a scale and severity no human criminal could ever hope to match:
These aren't just accounting fraud and wage theft, either - think homicide, arson, drug trafficking, dumping and sexual offenses. And that's just what we know about - only 5% of corporate crimes ever come to light.
Writing for the Corporate Crime Reporter, @CorpCrimeReport offers a list of euphemisms that the press, the corporate bar, and law schools use to magic corporate crime out of existence:
The @WSJ calls it "Risk & Compliance." The @nytimes calls it "white collar crime" - a favorite euphemism also used by the @ABAesq.
As a euphemism, #WhiteCollarCrime has a huge advantage, in that it equates a bank teller who steals from a bank with a bank - like Wells Fargo - that steals from millions of its customers.
#BigLaw uses the "white collar" euphemism (@gibsondunn), but also "Government, Regulatory & Internal Investigations" (@Kirkland_Ellis). @SkaddenArps casts a wide net with "Government Enforcement and White Collar Crime."
The DoJ bends over backwards not to call corporate crime "crime." When a firm like Purdue Pharma or Boeing settles a claim, the cops on the corporate beat put out press releases celebrating their "agreement to pay" a fine. Mokhiber: "Look how agreeable they are."
Settlements like Boeing's - for the death of 346 people - don't include a corporate guilty plea. There are no charges laid against execs. No manslaughter charges are laid. And yet the DoJ says they're "holding Boeing accountable."
Biden Deputy AG Lisa Monaco gave a speech announcing a drawdown in these leniency agreements and a new era of criminal charges for criminal acts, including criminal indictments of individual executives:
But she's in for an uphill battle. The DoJ is stuffed full of ambitious lawyers who dream of careers at Big Law firms, like Erin Nealy Cox who negotiated Boeing's leniency on behalf of the DoJ.
Boeing was represented by Kirkland and Ellis and now, Cox is a partner at...Kirkland and Ellis.
And the DoJ is still tying itself in knots over their unwillingness to call crime "crime."
Deputy AG Monaco is scheduled for an interview with the WSJ over her landmark speech - and the DoJ's press release calls this a discussion of "the intersection between business and government."
ETA - If you'd like an unrolled version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
I'm heading on a work trip that dovetails into a Xmas holiday and then, in turn, to a hip replacement. I may not put out another Pluralistic edition until Feb (though I might squeak another edition in before then, who can say?). Get vaxed, stay safe and I'll see you in '22!
2/
All the books I reviewed in 2021: Plus one I published!
When you hear that a billionaire has bought a horse or a newspaper or a sports team, you might think it's just dilletantish dabbling by a member of the parasite class with nothing better to do with their time - a way to make the idle rich slightly more vigorous.
1/
If you'd like an unrolled version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
But as @propublica documents in the latest installment of its #IRSLeaks reporting - drawing on never-seen tax filings of the ultra-rich - hobbies are a way to pile up gigantic tax write-offs that can be applied to passive income (money you earn for doing nothing).
3/
40 years ago, the Reagan administration decided that monopolies were good, actually.
1/
Rather than preventing the kinds of mega-mergers that increased corporate power (over workers, regulators, customers and competitors), Reagan decreed that monopolies were "efficient" and should be left alone.
2/
40 years later, every one of our industries has consolidated and consolidated and consolidated, dwindling to a handful of companies that dominate sectors from tech to law to pro wrestling to beer.
3/
This is more-or-less my last blogging day of 2021 (I may sneak a post or two in before the New Year, but I might not), so it's time for my annual roundup of my book reviews from the year gone by.
1/
I've sorted this year's books by genre (sf/f, other novels, graphic novels, YA, nonfic) a
nd summarized the reviews with links to the full review.
2/
As ever, casting my eye over the year's reading fills me with delight (at how much I enjoyed these books) and shame (at all the excellent books I was sent or recommended that I did *not* get a chance to read). 2021 was a hard year for all of us and I'm no exception.
3/
Inside: Podcasting "Give Me Slack"; A lexicon of euphemisms for "corporate crime"; IP lawyers weaponize trade secrecy to stall vaccine waivers; and more!