C ORPORATE C RIME R EPORTER

Top 100 Corporate Crime Stories of 2011

26 Corporate Crime Reporter 1, December 16, 2011

Here’s the other difference between the one percent and the rest of us –

The crimes of the one percent inflict far more damage on society than those of the 99 percent.



And they tend to get away with their crimes.

While we tend to get nailed.

The big multinational corporations, which are the primary delivery systems of wealth to the 99 percent, have rigged the justice system so that when they get in trouble with the law, they either aren’t prosecuted for their crimes, of if they are, they get special treatment – non prosecution or deferred prosecution agreements.

If they end up in the civil courts, they also get special deals – like neither admit nor deny consent decrees.

True, they pay fines, often in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, but this is pocket change to them – the equivalent of a parking ticket for serious wrongdoing.

They marinate the halls of power with campaign cash, flood them with lobbyists, and lubricate the revolving door – all to undermine our system of justice.

Out of the more than 500 stories we’ve written for Corporate Crime Reporter this year, here are the Top 100 – selected by our crack editorial team.

Just scan the the headlines, and you’ll get a sense of the enormity of the corporate crime wave.

And remember – Corporate Crime Reporter is only a weekly newsletter. We publish 48 times a year.

We’re considering making it a daily – just to keep up.



Top 100 Corporate Crime Stories of 2011



100. SEC Delivers First Non Pros Baby

99. Simon Johnson: Break Up the Big Banks

98. Grassley Asks: Why are Health Care Fraud Cases Stagnating?

97. Guidant to Pay $296 Million for FDA Crimes

96. Former Chase Bank Official Convicted of Taking Bribes

95. Oregon Sues Johnson & Johnson for Phatom Recall of Motrin

94. Grain Elevator Deaths Due to Lax OSHA Enforcement

93. Insider Trading Defendants Avoid Jail in 44 Percent of Cases

92. Lockheed to Pay $2 Million to Resolve False Claims Charge

91. Grossman Drafts Legislation to Criminalize the Corporate Form

90. Pentagon Spent Billions on Companies that Committed Fraud

89. Legal Challenge to Blanket Immunity in BAE Settlement

88. Maxwell Gets FCPA Prosecution Deferred, Pays $8 Million Criminal Fine

87. Nader Calls Jeep Grand Cherokee Modern Day Pinto for Soccer Moms

86. Oracle to Pay $46 Million To Settle False Claims Charge

85. Coalition: Negligent Doctors and Big Pharma Should Not Be Shielded

84. Chevron Found Guilty in Ecuador, Fined $9 Billion

83. Tyson Foods Gets Prosecution Deferred, Pays $4 Million FCPA Fine

82. Rolling Stone: Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?

81. Criminal Investigation Against Mozilo Closed

80. Horizon Lines to Plead Guilty, Pay $45 Million Criminal Fine

79. Walmart State and Local Tax Avoidance Exceeds $400 Million Annually

78. Wheelchair Fraud Results in $6 Million Fine

77. Feds Intervene in False Claims Case against KBR

76. Jack Abramoff, Whipping Boy

75. HHS Fines Cignet Health $4.3 Million

74. Arch Coal to Pay $4 Million

73. Forest Pharma Hit with $145 in Criminal Penalties

72. Goldman Sachs Board Member Charged with Insider Trading

71. CSPI Urges Feds to Ban Caramel Color from Sodas

70. Avaya and CIT Group Pay over $16.5 Million To Settle False Claims Case

69. Two NY York Lawmakers, Albany Lobbyist, Hospital CEOs Busted in Corruption Probe

68. USA Today: Fines Not Being Collected

67. The Dark Side of the Cruise Ship Industry and the Silence of The Nation Magazine

66. Audit Firms: Too Few to Fail?

65. Astrazeneca to Pay $68.5 to Settle Anti-Psychotic Drug Case

64. Japan Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientist to Quit in Protest

63. Chamber Hires Mukasey to Weaken FCPA

62. Consol to Pay $5.5 Pollution Fine

61. French Judge Charges Airbus with Manslaughter

60. Heart Association Endorses Stomach Surgery after $100K Gift from Lap-Band Maker

59. IBM to Pay $10 Million to Settle FCPA Action

58. Samsung SDI to Pay $32 Million Criminal Fine

57. PG&E to Pay $6 Million Criminal Fine

56. Occidental Oil to Pay $2 Million in False Claims Case

55. HHS Launches Health Care Fraud Fugitive List

54. How Milton Friedman and Chicago Economics Undermined America

53. Rakoff Rips Neither Admit Nor Deny SEC Settlements

52. Insider Trading Scandal Hits Congress

51. Antitrust Institute: T Mobile/AT&T Merger Anti-Competitive

50. Cell Phones, Brain Cancer and Devra Davis

49. JGC Gets FCPA Prosecution Deferred, Will Pay $218.8 Million Criminal Penalty

48. Verizon Pays $93.5 Million To Resolve False Claim Charge

47. Comverse Technology Gets Non Prosecution FCPA Agreement

46. Johnson & Johnson Gets FCPA Prosecution Deferred, to Pay $21.4 Million Criminal Penalty

45. Spitzer Calls on Holder to Prosecute Goldman Sachs or Resign

44. Stokes Sours on Obama’s Antitrust Effort

43. Honeywell Pleads Guilty, to Pay $11.8 Million

42. NPR, Electric Trolleys and Corporate Crime

41. Warren: Banks Want to Knife Consumer Bureau in the Ribs

40. DynCorp to Pay $8.7 Million to Settle False Claims Charge

39. Serono Pays $44 Million to Settle False Claims Charge

38. UBS Gets Non Pros Agreement, to Pay $160 Million

37. 29 Coal Miners Dead and Alpha Gets Non Prosecution Agreement

36. FedEx to Pay $8 Million to Settle False Claims Probe

35. Andy Cochran and the Coming War Between Constitutionalists and Corporatists

34. Quest Diagnostics in $241 Settlement

33. Wall Street Analyst: Goldman Too Big to Prosecute

32. Fresenius Ordered To Pay $82.6 Million

31. Friedrichs Baffled by NYT’s Claim That Major Crimes are in Decline (Answer: NYT Didn’t Look at Corporate Crime)

30. Novo Nordisk to Pay $25 Million to Settle False Claims Charge

29. Still No Criminal Charge in 2007 Utah Mine Disaster

28. Whistleblowers Call on Public Interest Groups to Rescind Obama Transparency Award

29. Fluor Corporation to Pay $4 Million to Settle False Claims Charge

28. Anadarko, Kerr-McGee To Pay $17 Million to Settle False Claims Charge

27. JP Morgan to Pay $153.6 Million To Settle SEC Probe

26. 60 Minutes: Why No Wall Street Prosecutions?

25. Boeing Overcharged Army Millions for Spare Helicopter Parts

24. MHSA: Massey Kept Two Sets of Books

23. State AGs Settle with Glaxo for $40 Million

22. Antitrust Activists Feel Sucker Punched as Varney Leaves to Cravath

21. JP Morgan Chase to Pay $92 Million in Bid Rigging Case

20. Armor Holdings Gets Non Pros FCPA Agreement, to Pay $10 Million Criminal Penalty

19. Kentucky Nursing Home Accused in Deaths of Five Residents

18. Richard Grossman 1943-2011

17. Dickie Scruggs, Huey Long and the Politics of Crime in Mississippi

16. SEC Charges Liquor Giant Diego with FCPA Violations

15. Pew Report Hits Water Pollution from Chicken Plants

14. Wachovia Gets Non Pros Agreement, to Pay $148 Million

13. Taibbi: Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?

12. Jane Barrett on the Need for a Federal Workplace Homicide Statute

11. Gary Aguirre Says Shut Down the SEC, Start Over

10. Chevron to Pay $24 Million to Settle SEC Lawsuit

9. Maxim Healthcare Gets Prosecution Deferred, to Pay $150 Million

8. Accenture to Pay $68 Million to Settle False Claims Charge

7. Amoco to Pay $20 Million to Settle False Claims Charge

6. Oracle to Pay $199 Million to Resolve False Claims Charge

5. Activists Draft Law to Criminalize Fracking

4. Judge Rakoff Throws Out SEC/Citigroup Settlement

3. Pfizer to Pay $14 Million to Settle False Claims Charge

2. UMW Says UBB Mine Disaster Was Industrial Homicide

1. Glaxo to Pay $3 Billion to Settle False Claims Charge



