House Bill Would Make It Harder To Prosecute White-Collar Crime

[Penelope]

House Bill Would Make It Harder To Prosecute White-Collar Crime

CEOs could be off the hook for even gross negligence.

11/16/2015 03:23 pm ET

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans on Monday unveiled legislation that would decriminalize a broad swath of corporate malfeasance, a move that injects white-collar crime issues into the thus-far bipartisan agenda on criminal justice reform.

The public debate over criminal justice reform has focused on reducing severe sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. But some influential conservative voices, including the billionaire Koch brothers and the Heritage Foundation, have quietly advocated for curbing prosecution of corporate offenses as well.

The House bill would eliminate a host of white-collar crimes where the damaging acts are merely reckless, negligent or grossly negligent. If enacted, it would make it more difficult for federal authorities to pursue executive wrongdoing, from financial fraud to environmental pollution.


House Bill Would Make It Harder To Prosecute White-Collar Crime

White collar crimes should have more investigation and prosecution, NOT LESS. Steaing millions from taxpayers is worst than smoking pot.

 

[waltky]

Gov't. gettin' lax on white collar crime...

Federal White Collar Convictions Dipped To ‘20-Year Historic Low’ in 2015
April 12, 2016 -- White collar convictions by the Department of Justice (DOJ) dipped to a “20-year historic low” in 2015, according to data obtained from the Executive Office of the U.S. Attorney under the Freedom of Information Act and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. “Convictions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago,” TRAC reported.

DOJ reported 520 new convictions of white collar criminals in February. But that number is down 7.3 percent from a year ago and represents a 16.7 percent decline in white collar convictions compared to five years ago, according to TRAC. The Southern District of Illinois (East St. Louis) saw the “largest drop in the rate of white collar crime convictions – 53.3 percent” over the past year, according to TRAC. “Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions – 41.1 percent – was for convictions where the lead charge was ‘attempt to evade or defeat tax’,” according to TRAC.

Last fall, Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates sent a memo to federal prosecutors instructing them to crack down harder on individual white collar criminals. “Fighting corporate fraud and other misconduct is a top priority of the Department of Justice,” the memo stated. The memo was the first major policy announcement under Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who has made prosecuting white collar criminals one of her top four priorities, in addition to fighting terrorism and going after perpetrators of cyber-crime and human trafficking.

White collar crimes are defined as “a non-violent event involving deceit, concealment, subterfuge, and other fraudulent activity.” This broad category includes fraud and theft (including identity theft), anti-trust violations and arson for profit. Of the 520 convictions in February, the largest number (16.9 percent) were in the “Fraud – Other” category, TRAC reported, followed by convictions for:

[/b]“Fraud – Federal Program” (13.1 percent)[/b]