By Dylan Tokar Close Dylan Tokar Oct. 1, 2020 5:30 am ET Facing a bribery probe, asphalt company Sargeant Marine Inc. claimed that a large criminal penalty would make it insolvent. So federal prosecutors knocked off more than $70 million.
The Sargeant Marine settlement, however, shows a limit to how much the government may be willing to divulge about a company’s sensitive financial information when providing justification for the decision to treat a company more leniently. Under U.S. sentencing guidelines, Sargeant Marine could have paid between $120 million and $240 million, according to the plea agreement.
For prosecutors, the guidance should create more consistency in how they appraise a company’s financial health, according to Tarek Helou, a former prosecutor and a partner at the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. But it could make a big difference for some smaller companies where a criminal fine is more likely to be life-threatening, she said. “Some corporate attorneys that represent closely held organizations might be slightly more empowered to make these arguments.”
'Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.' HairFurur
Oh look, another example of how corporations get more breaks than us regular people 🤦♀️
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