The Case for the Corporate Death Penalty : Restoring Law and Order on Wall Street

**A critical examination of the wrongdoing underlying the 2008 financial crisis** An unprecedented breakdown in the rule of law occurred in the United States after the 2008 financial collapse. Bank of America, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and other large banks settled securities fraud claims with the Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to disclose the risks of subprime mortgages they sold to the investing public. But a corporation cannot commit fraud except through human beings working at and managing the firm. Rather than breaking up these powerful megabanks, essentially imposing a corporate death penalty, the government simply accepted fines that essentially punished innocent shareholders instead of senior leaders at the megabanks. It allowed the real wrongdoers to walk away from criminal responsibility. In The Case for the Corporate Death Penalty, Mary Kreiner Ramirez and Steven A. Ramirez examine the best available evidence about the wrongdoing underlying the financial crisis. They reveal that the government failed to use its most powerful law enforcement tools despite overwhelming proof of wide-ranging and large-scale fraud on Wall Street before, during, and after the crisis. The pattern of criminal indulgences exposes the onset of a new degree of crony capitalism in which the most economically and political powerful can commit financial crimes of vast scale with criminal and regulatory immunity. A new economic royalty has seized the commanding heights of our economy through their control of trillions in corporate and individual wealth and their ability to dispense patronage. The Case for the Corporate Death Penalty shows that this new lawlessness poses a profound threat that urgently demands political action and proposes attainable measures to restore the rule of law in the financial sector.

A critical examination of the wrongdoing underlying the2008 financial crisis An unprecedented breakdown in therule of law occurred in the United States after the 2008 financialcollapse. Bank of America, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, andother large banks settled securities fraud claims with theSecurities and Exchange Commission for failing to disclose therisks of subprime mortgages they sold to the investing public. Buta corporation cannot commit fraud except through human beingsworking at and managing the firm. Rather than breaking up thesepowerful megabanks, essentially imposing a corporate death penalty,the government simply accepted fines that essentially punishedinnocent shareholders instead of senior leaders at the megabanks.It allowed the real wrongdoers to walk away from criminalresponsibility. In The Case for the Corporate Death Penalty, MaryKreiner Ramirez and Steven A. Ramirez examine the best availableevidence about the wrongdoing underlying the financial crisis. Theyreveal that the government failed to use its most powerful lawenforcement tools despite overwhelming proof of wide-ranging andlarge-scale fraud on Wall Street before, during, and after thecrisis. The pattern of criminal indulgences exposes the onset of anew degree of crony capitalism in which the most economically andpolitical powerful can commit financial crimes of vast scale withcriminal and regulatory immunity. A new economic royalty has seizedthe commanding heights of our economy through their control oftrillions in corporate and individual wealth and their ability todispense patronage. The Case for the Corporate Death Penalty showsthat this new lawlessness poses a profound threat that urgentlydemands political action and proposes attainable measures torestore the rule of law in the financial sector.