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For a corporation who doesn’t exist in reality one of the most tangible punishments possible is monetary penalties plus behavioral commitments with teeth. It’s
by fnordpiglet 2y ago
For a corporation who doesn’t exist in reality one of the most tangible punishments possible is monetary penalties plus behavioral commitments with teeth. It’s not like they’re going to put the Boeing HQ in a prison complex or something.
Deferred prosecution saves a lot of money and time, on both sides, as well as deflects some amount of discovery. It also leaves a sword of Damocles over them that if they don’t reform everything they hoped to avoid by paying all that money comes back upon them and worse.
This feels like a pretty effective way to punish and attempt to reform a corporation. The fact Boeing is so managed by the accountants that even their lawyers can’t convince them to stop cutting corners and trying to get away with substandard work to juice EPS is baffling though. The fact literally everyone on earth knows this is the problem yet they are still appointing a new airplanes unit CEO that is an accountant doubly so. (No joke, undergrad in accounting, MBA, both marginal schools)
- llm_trw 2y agoIt would work quite well if you put the board in prison though.
- fnordpiglet 2y agoThey have to actually commit a crime. And there are some things that a corporation can do that this happens - and SOX has criminal liability attached. But criminality requires stuff like intent and involvement. Often times the board is way too remote from the decision to be criminally liable by any sense of justice. It might feel good to say that but when discussing sending human beings to prison the bar should be high (even though it’s too low for many people not on a board). But material consequences for companies are monetary and since a company’s life is money, that’s actually usually pretty compelling.