White Collar Crime Pays — Big Time
August 8, 2012 at 1:34 PM 2 comments
If anything shows how the corporatocarcy has infiltrated the government, this does:
(Image via BadLawyerNYC.blobspot.com)
Morgan Stanley will pay $4.8 million and admit no wrongdoing as part of a settlement with the federal government over allegations that it helped KeySpan, an electricity generating company, fix prices against New York consumers.
A federal judge “begrudgingly” approved the deal Tuesday, overruling claims from consumer advocacy groups that the government was letting Morgan Stanley off the hook too easily.
The $4.8 million settlement pales in comparison to the $300 million the price fixing reportedly cost New York consumers, and it even falls far short of the $21.6 million in revenue the deal generated for Morgan Stanley.
I spent most of my career working as a paralegal. My last position was at a medical malpractice, product liability law firm. People in that crowd know drug companies release drugs into the market (with the help of their friends at the FDA) they know are harmful but the thinking is that they’ll make a boat-load of money before anyone finds out and they have to pull it. Then they’ll be slapped with a tiny fine when compared to the profit they’ve made. Never mind if people were maimed or died. In the end, it’s worth the lawsuits and the fines.
Looks like the same goes for folks like Morgan Stanley. They made $21.6 million on the price fixing, they paid a $4.8 million fine and walked away with $16.8 million in profit. The only “lesson” they learned is, hello, in the end, it’s worth the lawsuits and the fines.
Infuriating.
Entry filed under: Corporatocracy, Laws / Judiciary. Tags: .
1.
JC for pennies | August 9, 2012 at 4:43 AM
Photo has one glaring inaccuracy: The handcuffs never even appear.
2.
Say It Ain't So Already | August 9, 2012 at 8:00 AM
True.