Criminalizing the American Company – The Economist

The Economist has an excellent article examining the criminalizing of American companies.  The piece, entitled “A Mammoth Guilt Trip,” covers a lot of ground, including many of the most pressing issues in the field of corporate criminal liability today.  The article begins by examining some of the incredible financial settlements we’ve seen this year.  As the piece notes, while the $5.5 billion the DOJ collected in direct payments in 2013 was impressive, it will certainly be “dwarfed by this year’s tally.”  Also examined in the article are issues such as the questionable and opaque ways the government spends settlement funds, the growth in regulatory crimes, the often prohibitive costs of corporate compliance, the inability of many companies to risk proceeding to trial, and, of course, the lack of individual prosecutions following the 2008 financial collapse.  Finally, the article contains some great data from Professor Brandon Garrett at the University of Virginia Law School.  Professor Garrett maintains a list of government actions against corporations since 2000.  In total, the list contains information regarding 2,163 corporate convictions and guilty pleas, along with 313 deferred and non-prosecution agreements.  It all makes for a fascinating read.

(LED)