News Release

Will the DOJ Finally Go After Corporate Criminals?

Share

Matt Apuzzo and Ben Protess write in a front page piece in today’s New York Times, “Justice Department Sets Sights on Wall Street Executives,” that: “Stung by years of criticism that it has coddled Wall Street criminals, the Justice Department issued new policies on Wednesday that prioritize the prosecution of individual employees — not just their companies — and put pressure on corporations to turn over evidence against their executives.”

RUSSELL MOKHIBER, russellmokhiber at gmail.com, @CorpCrimeReport
Mokhiber is the editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, a legal weekly based in Washington, D.C. He said today: “Both corporations and their executives who engage in criminal wrongdoing should be held accountable. For too long, the Justice Department has chosen the path of least resistance and instead of forcing criminal corporations to plead guilty, the Department has allowed them to enter into deferred and non prosecution agreements. Instead of pursuing probation to change corporate culture, the Department has fined the companies and sometimes imposed monitors agreed to by the company. Instead of holding top level executives accountable, the Department has allowed corporations to throw lower level executives under the bus in exchange for lenient treatment for the corporation. Now the Justice Department is saying they want to focus on individuals. But what about the corporation? Yes, individuals matter. But until the Justice Department addresses its failed policy on corporate criminal liability, corrupt corporate culture will continue to churn out corrupt individuals.”

See one of Mokhiber’s many pieces on the subject: “The failure to prosecute corporate crime undermines U.S. justice.”