Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and presidential hopeful, introduced legislation this week that aims to make it easier to jail the chief executives of big corporations who allow fraud or other forms of corporate wrongdoing to happen on their watch. By Renae Merle Renae Merle Reporter covering white-collar crime and Wall Street Email Bio Follow April 4 at 10:40 AM In recent months, Sen.
Warren’s legislation has little chance of Senate passage and was quickly criticized by business groups and white collar defense attorneys as criminalizing normal corporate behavior. “Criminal penalties are the most drastic penalties a government can impose, we need to be very careful about how we use that,” said Tom Quaadman, executive vice president of the Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a large lobbying group.
Her proposal taps into lingering populist frustration with the lack of criminal prosecutions after the global financial crisis. Going after corporate executives has long been difficult, particularly at large companies, former prosecutors say. The investigations are lengthy and expensive and it can be difficult to prove that a CEO knew about specific corporate wrongdoing in a large organization, they say.
Criminalizing negligence would upend precedent, legal experts say. In most cases, defendants must know they are committing a crime to be found guilty, said Peter Baldwin, a former federal prosecutor and partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath. Being found negligent is a much lower standard and is traditionally pursued through civil courts, he said.
Warren’s legislation adopts parts of SIGTARP’s proposal, including requiring top executives of a company with at least $10 billion in revenue to certify every year that they have conducted “due diligence” to identify criminal or civil fraud. That extra step could make it easier for law enforcement to hold those executives criminally responsible for corporate wrongdoing even if they are not personally responsible or aware of the bad behavior, legal experts say.
I’m confused. These CEOs are paid as though they are responsible for every action of the company—hundreds of times the pay of the average worker. But when it comes time to be accountable, they were simply negligent. Why aren’t shareholders having their heads then?
No problem with it. They are crooks just like a common street thug. Especially Wells Fargo CEOs and VPs. They are responsible for billions of dollars of other peoples money. I hope Warren puts the two WF CEOs that resigned in prison.
Jailing more CEO's will, eventually, eliminate problems. CEO Compensation should be based on NET Profit after Taxes.
“Criminalizing normal corporate behavior,” they say. Yes, that it’s “normal” is the problem. The problem with the proposal is that it doesn’t go far enough.
The problem: She won't jail ALL the CEO's
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'... is that all our friends would go to jail.'
Or, hear me out here, they could just follow the laws and not exploit people. But that assumes CEOs are citizens subject to law like the rest of us, which is not the current status quo, nor apparently what you want either.
With great power comes great responsibility. Maybe for some people, Airline pilots, Heart surgeons, CEO's... maybe negligence that results in harm SHOULD be a crime. Something to think about anyway.
Jailing is too kind; might consider flogging or even maiming.
not jailing all of them
lmfao obviously the white collar criminals Warren wants to jail would be opposed to being jailed. that's the point of the legislation
It is a wonderful idea. Over due.
NipseyHussleForever
CEO's just need the incentives not to be criminals. And money erases a lot of criminal history.
Correct incentives are necessary for any contract. CEO's will protect themselves if given the chance. That's why baseball contracts to me are not structured properly unless there are incentives for All Star appearances, playoffs, etc.
How many went to JAIL for the HOUSING CRASH..NONE..you put one in jail....this shit will not happen again!!WTFU... JUSTICE FOR ALL...Socialist Capitalism..your usa.
GoodFaithGOP
I think we are more interested in a fair criminal justice system and that is what Warren is calling out.
yeah, liz is talking more about blue-collar workgroup, yet blue-collar has to obey the rules of white-collar, so i would say her plans are undoubetly great but it's quite difficult to employ them in reality. Amazon is piling up a lot of money ,but it's also contributing in GDP.
Lizzy Warren is beyond help. For somebody that has fooled so many for so long... At least strenghten Social Security And medicare No just give away stuff!!!
The reaction to SenWarren's proposal shows just how powerful a deterrent it would be. Jailing corporate executives is exactly what should have been done after the financial collapse.
She's right. NOBODY got locked up for the 2008 real estate crash.
I’d rather strip them of their wealth than allow them to sit in a white collar country club for a couple months
Even if we doubled the number of CEOs in jail that would probably only be six total.
Maybe what these CEOs are doing shouldn't be considered normal corporate behavior.
Lol they’re scared they will finally get what they deserve
Warren’s legislation has little chance of Senate passage and was quickly criticized by business groups and white collar defense attorneys as criminalizing normal corporate behavior. Yes, that's the point.
There is no law against capitalism
Did a CEO write this
Not enough jails?
Jails are already overcrowded?
'...is that it doesn't jail enough of them'.
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