Deferred Prosecution Agreements: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

00:25:27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNo8Ve-Ej6U

概要

TLDRThe video explores the issue of corporate crime, particularly focusing on Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) and Non-Prosecution Agreements (NPAs) that allow companies to avoid prosecution for serious offenses. It highlights the cases of GM, HSBC, and Boeing, illustrating how these agreements often fail to hold corporations accountable, allowing them to continue harmful practices. The video critiques the current administration's approach to corporate crime and suggests reforms to enhance accountability and transparency in corporate governance.

収穫

  • 📉 Corporate crime is on the rise due to lax enforcement.
  • ⚖️ DPAs and NPAs often let companies evade serious consequences.
  • 🚗 GM's faulty ignition switches led to numerous deaths.
  • 💰 HSBC facilitated money laundering for drug cartels.
  • ✈️ Boeing's 737 Max crashes highlighted design flaws.
  • 🔍 Transparency in corporate monitoring is lacking.
  • 📜 DPAs were originally meant for non-violent offenders.
  • 🔄 The cycle of corporate misconduct continues unchecked.
  • 📊 Fines imposed are often a small percentage of profits.
  • 🔧 Reforms are needed to hold corporations accountable.

タイムライン

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The main story discusses corporate crime, highlighting the lack of concern from the current president, who has faced his own legal issues. The segment introduces an anti-corruption activist's perspective on the challenges faced by American companies due to laws against bribery, contrasting it with the practices of other countries. The narrative humorously explores the absurdity of finding a pro-corruption advocate, ultimately leading to Donald Trump being chosen to defend corporate misconduct on live TV, which has resulted in a significant decrease in enforcement actions against corporate crime during his administration.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The discussion shifts to Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs), which allow companies to avoid prosecution by agreeing to certain conditions. The segment explains how these agreements have become common, with many corporations using them to escape serious consequences for their actions. The host emphasizes that these agreements often lead to minimal penalties and do not hold individuals accountable, highlighting the prevalence of DPAs in major corporations and the lack of public awareness about their implications.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The origins of DPAs are traced back to a 1974 law intended for non-violent offenders, but they have since been misapplied to corporations. The segment recounts the downfall of Arthur Anderson, the accounting firm involved in the Enron scandal, which led to a reluctance among prosecutors to pursue corporate prosecutions. This shift resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of DPAs, with the Justice Department entering into hundreds of such agreements in the years following Anderson's collapse, often to the detriment of accountability.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Three case studies are presented to illustrate the ineffectiveness of DPAs: General Motors (GM), HSBC, and Boeing. GM's DPA followed a scandal involving faulty ignition switches linked to numerous deaths, yet no individuals were prosecuted. HSBC faced scrutiny for facilitating money laundering for drug cartels but similarly avoided individual accountability. Boeing's DPA came after two deadly crashes involving the 737 Max, with the company admitting to misrepresentations but still avoiding serious consequences, raising concerns about corporate accountability.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:27

    The segment concludes by emphasizing the need for reform in how corporate crime is prosecuted. Suggestions include increasing fines, holding executives accountable, and making DPAs more transparent. The host argues that the current system allows corporations to operate with impunity, causing significant harm, and calls for a shift towards greater accountability to prevent future misconduct.

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マインドマップ

ビデオQ&A

  • What are Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs)?

    DPAs are out-of-court settlements that allow companies to avoid prosecution if they comply with certain conditions.

  • How many DPAs have been issued since the collapse of Arthur Anderson?

    In the 14 years following Arthur Anderson's collapse, the DOJ entered into 419 DPAs and NPAs.

  • What was GM's misconduct related to?

    GM sold cars with faulty ignition switches that caused accidents, leading to 124 deaths and 273 injuries.

  • What did HSBC do wrong?

    HSBC allowed Mexican cartels to launder money and facilitated transactions with sanctioned regimes.

  • What was Boeing's major issue?

    Boeing's 737 Max planes were involved in crashes due to design flaws, resulting in 346 deaths.

  • What changes are suggested for corporate accountability?

    The video suggests making fines more serious, prosecuting executives more often, and increasing transparency in monitoring.

  • What is the impact of corporate crime on the public?

    Corporate crime can lead to significant harm, including loss of life and financial damage to individuals and communities.

  • How do DPAs affect corporate behavior?

    DPAs often allow companies to continue operating without serious consequences, leading to repeated offenses.

  • What is the current state of corporate crime enforcement?

    The current environment is seen as favorable for corporate misconduct, with a lack of serious enforcement actions.

  • What is the historical context of DPAs?

    DPAs were originally intended for first-time juvenile offenders, not corporations.

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  • 00:00:00
    Our
  • 00:00:03
    [Music]
  • 00:00:07
    main story tonight concerns crime. Once
  • 00:00:09
    again, voted number one by Reasons to
  • 00:00:11
    Tiptoe magazine. Specifically, we're
  • 00:00:13
    going to talk about corporate crime,
  • 00:00:14
    something our current president is
  • 00:00:16
    famously not that concerned about. Not
  • 00:00:18
    only was he convicted on 34 counts of
  • 00:00:20
    falsifying business records, but long
  • 00:00:22
    before he was president, CNBC ran a
  • 00:00:24
    segment about a law banning American
  • 00:00:26
    companies from bribing foreign
  • 00:00:27
    governments. or not. Let this
  • 00:00:29
    anti-corruption activist pick up the
  • 00:00:30
    story from there.
  • 00:00:34
    I was asked to come on CNBC and give the
  • 00:00:36
    anti-corruption
  • 00:00:38
    argument. And I remember laughing at the
  • 00:00:39
    time saying, "Well, if is there somebody
  • 00:00:41
    that you found who's willing to give the
  • 00:00:42
    pro-corruption argument?"
  • 00:00:44
    Now, every other country goes into these
  • 00:00:46
    places and they do what they have to do.
  • 00:00:48
    Sad part, every other country in the
  • 00:00:50
    world is doing it. We're not allowed to.
  • 00:00:53
    So, it puts us at a huge disadvantage.
  • 00:00:55
    Yeah, they clearly got the right guy
  • 00:00:56
    there.
  • 00:00:58
    I can only assume the producer at CNBC
  • 00:01:00
    said to their assistant, "We need
  • 00:01:01
    someone willing to give the
  • 00:01:02
    pro-corruption argument. Who's the most
  • 00:01:04
    unethical person you can think of?" To
  • 00:01:05
    which they replied, "Easy, the
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    Hamburglar." To which the producer said,
  • 00:01:09
    "No, wait, what? No, like a real
  • 00:01:10
    person." To which they said, "Wait, the
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    hamburger is not real." To which the
  • 00:01:13
    producer said, "Uh, no, he's a fictional
  • 00:01:14
    character." To which the assistant
  • 00:01:16
    replied, "Well, there goes that dream."
  • 00:01:18
    To which the producer said, "What
  • 00:01:20
    dream?" To which they said, "Of marrying
  • 00:01:22
    the hamburger." To which the producer
  • 00:01:23
    said, "I'm sorry, what?" To which the
  • 00:01:24
    assistant said, "Let's not talk about
  • 00:01:25
    it. How about we get Donald Trump? To
  • 00:01:27
    which the producer said, "Oh, that is a
  • 00:01:29
    good idea. Are you crying?" To which
  • 00:01:31
    they said, "Yeah, sorry. This hamburger
  • 00:01:33
    news is just hitting me pretty hard." To
  • 00:01:34
    which the producer said, "Did you really
  • 00:01:36
    have a crush on a cartoon beef thief?"
  • 00:01:38
    To which they replied, "The heart wants
  • 00:01:41
    what it wants before storming off to go
  • 00:01:43
    cry in the bathroom." Anyway, the point
  • 00:01:46
    is, of course, they got Donald Trump to
  • 00:01:48
    defend corruption on live TV. And since
  • 00:01:50
    taking office, his administration's
  • 00:01:52
    halted or dropped more than 100
  • 00:01:54
    enforcement actions against corporate
  • 00:01:56
    misconduct. And he even issued the first
  • 00:01:58
    ever pardon of a corporation, pardoning
  • 00:02:00
    this cryptocurrency exchange, which have
  • 00:02:02
    been sentenced to a $100 million fine
  • 00:02:04
    for violating an anti-moneylaundering
  • 00:02:06
    law. It is frankly no wonder experts
  • 00:02:08
    have called this moment the ripest
  • 00:02:09
    environment for corruption by public
  • 00:02:11
    officials and business executives in a
  • 00:02:14
    generation. Though to be fair, it's not
  • 00:02:16
    like the environment was exactly unripe
  • 00:02:19
    before Trump took office. Republican and
  • 00:02:21
    Democratic administrations have both
  • 00:02:23
    taken a pretty lax approach to corporate
  • 00:02:25
    crime for a while now. You might have
  • 00:02:26
    noticed stories about corporate
  • 00:02:29
    malfeasants rarely end with executives
  • 00:02:31
    going to jail or the companies getting
  • 00:02:33
    shut down. And tonight's story is going
  • 00:02:34
    to focus on a key reason for that.
  • 00:02:38
    Deferred prosecution agreements or DPAs.
  • 00:02:39
    They're basically an outofc court
  • 00:02:41
    settlement for companies to avoid being
  • 00:02:43
    prosecuted. Essentially, the government
  • 00:02:44
    will come to a company and say, "Hi,
  • 00:02:47
    company government here. You did a crime
  • 00:02:49
    and we have enough evidence to prosecute
  • 00:02:52
    you." But instead of then doing that,
  • 00:02:53
    they strike a deal where if the company
  • 00:02:55
    behaves itself for a certain amount of
  • 00:02:57
    time, the criminal charges eventually
  • 00:02:59
    disappear. Sometimes they'll go with an
  • 00:03:01
    even weaker option, a nonprosecution
  • 00:03:03
    agreement or NPA, which doesn't even
  • 00:03:05
    have to be filed in court. Either way,
  • 00:03:07
    they're terms that tend to slide past
  • 00:03:10
    you whenever you hear them on the news.
  • 00:03:11
    The Justice Department announcing a
  • 00:03:14
    deferred prosecution agreement with Teva
  • 00:03:14
    Pharmaceuticals.
  • 00:03:16
    First Energy entered into what's called
  • 00:03:18
    a deferred prosecution agreement.
  • 00:03:20
    McKenzie has also entered into a
  • 00:03:22
    deferred prosecution agreement. Uber has
  • 00:03:24
    entered into a nonprosecution agreement
  • 00:03:27
    by the Swiss close to finalizing that
  • 00:03:28
    deferred prosecution agreement.
  • 00:03:30
    What's known as a deferred prosecution
  • 00:03:30
    agreement?
  • 00:03:32
    Deferred prosecution agreement.
  • 00:03:34
    Deferred prosecution agreement. Every
  • 00:03:36
    bank on Wall Street has a deferred
  • 00:03:38
    prosecution or an NPA. Every bank has
  • 00:03:41
    more than one, most likely.
  • 00:03:44
    It's true. AIG has two NPAs and a DPA.
  • 00:03:47
    Barclays has a DPA and an NPA. Credit
  • 00:03:49
    Swiss has a DPA. JP Morgan has an NPA
  • 00:03:52
    and a DPA. Lloyds has two DPAs. The
  • 00:03:53
    Royal Bank of Scotland has a DPA.
  • 00:03:56
    Wakovia has a DPA and an NPA. And UBS
  • 00:03:59
    has a DPA and two NPAs. And just so you
  • 00:04:01
    know, when I say a sentence like UBS has
  • 00:04:06
    a DPA and two NPAs, I do hear myself.
  • 00:04:08
    I'm fully aware that one day this show
  • 00:04:10
    will just be me reading one long acronym
  • 00:04:12
    for 40 minutes. We'll have achieved our
  • 00:04:14
    perfect form and on that day I'll
  • 00:04:16
    finally be allowed to die. But the point
  • 00:04:19
    is, these agreements are absolutely
  • 00:04:21
    everywhere. Honestly, the only things
  • 00:04:23
    more ubiquitous than DPAs on Wall Street
  • 00:04:25
    are fleece vests and undiagnosed
  • 00:04:27
    sociopaths.
  • 00:04:29
    Unfortunately, as you're about to see,
  • 00:04:31
    DPAs don't really do much. In fact,
  • 00:04:33
    sometimes companies that have done
  • 00:04:36
    massive harm have used them to literally
  • 00:04:37
    get away with murder. So, given that,
  • 00:04:40
    tonight, let's talk about deferred
  • 00:04:41
    prosecution agreements, where they came
  • 00:04:43
    from, how ineffective they can be, and a
  • 00:04:45
    few amazing examples of what they can
  • 00:04:47
    look like in practice. Let's start with
  • 00:04:49
    the fact that DPAs were never actually
  • 00:04:51
    intended to be used on corporations. The
  • 00:04:54
    concept grew out of a 1974 law that was
  • 00:04:55
    meant to help firsttime and juvenile
  • 00:04:58
    non-violent offenders avoid prosecution
  • 00:05:00
    so they could focus on rehabilitation.
  • 00:05:03
    But that is not how we use them today.
  • 00:05:05
    And you can trace the explosion of
  • 00:05:07
    corporate DPAs back to one of the most
  • 00:05:09
    famous times a large company was
  • 00:05:11
    prosecuted in this country, Arthur
  • 00:05:13
    Anderson. It was the accounting firm for
  • 00:05:15
    Enron whose name is now synonymous with
  • 00:05:18
    accounting fraud. Very basically with
  • 00:05:21
    the help of Anderson, Enron completely
  • 00:05:23
    invented future earnings for itself. And
  • 00:05:24
    when the government tried to
  • 00:05:26
    investigate, Anderson undertook a
  • 00:05:28
    massive document purge during which they
  • 00:05:30
    deleted around 30,000 computer files and
  • 00:05:32
    emails and at one point shredded more
  • 00:05:34
    documents in 3 days than they usually
  • 00:05:36
    destroyed in a year. something that
  • 00:05:39
    became so famous it was even parodyied
  • 00:05:42
    in a Heineken commercial where the
  • 00:05:44
    documents became snowflakes and the
  • 00:05:46
    tagline was to all those who weren't
  • 00:05:49
    naughty this year happy holidays
  • 00:05:52
    and just think how remarkable that is. A
  • 00:05:54
    beer company thought to themselves, you
  • 00:05:56
    know, we could just show off our crisp,
  • 00:05:58
    refreshing product in this commercial,
  • 00:06:00
    but instead let's give people what they
  • 00:06:02
    really want this Christmas and say
  • 00:06:04
    you to an accounting firm.
  • 00:06:07
    But the thing is,
  • 00:06:08
    the Justice Department actually got a
  • 00:06:10
    lot of blowback for prosecuting Anderson
  • 00:06:12
    because at the time it was a massive
  • 00:06:15
    firm with 28,000 employees, many of whom
  • 00:06:18
    felt like they'd done nothing wrong.
  • 00:06:20
    I am Anderson. I am Anderson.
  • 00:06:23
    After weeks of suffering in silence,
  • 00:06:25
    Anderson workers have found their voice.
  • 00:06:28
    Fight. Stand tall. Don't give up. By the
  • 00:06:30
    grace of God, we're going to win cuz
  • 00:06:33
    we're Anderson.
  • 00:06:35
    Everybody you see out here is worried
  • 00:06:36
    about their job right now.
  • 00:06:38
    We're all being penalized for something
  • 00:06:41
    that we didn't have anything to do with.
  • 00:06:44
    Yeah. Arthur Anderson's employees felt a
  • 00:06:45
    range of emotions from resentment to
  • 00:06:47
    anxiety to a level of unbridled
  • 00:06:50
    exuberance. Best described as Price is
  • 00:06:51
    Right contestant who just won a Honda
  • 00:06:54
    Civic. And they were right to be
  • 00:06:56
    concerned. Anderson being convicted of a
  • 00:06:57
    felony meant they lost their accounting
  • 00:07:00
    license which for an accounting firm is
  • 00:07:02
    generally not great for business. The
  • 00:07:04
    company eventually folded. Thousands of
  • 00:07:06
    people lost their jobs and many like
  • 00:07:08
    this Anderson partner placed the blame
  • 00:07:10
    squarely on the government.
  • 00:07:12
    In the history of the world of business,
  • 00:07:14
    this will come out in my judgment as the
  • 00:07:17
    largest act of corporate murder ever.
  • 00:07:20
    Okay, that is a wild overstatement
  • 00:07:21
    though because what happened to Anderson
  • 00:07:23
    is a lot more complicated than that. The
  • 00:07:26
    company had started shedding clients
  • 00:07:28
    long before their conviction and the SEC
  • 00:07:30
    was already investigating them. So the
  • 00:07:32
    truth is Anderson was likely heading out
  • 00:07:34
    of business anyway, saying this
  • 00:07:36
    prosecution is what doomed Anderson is
  • 00:07:38
    like saying that the ground is what
  • 00:07:41
    doomed the Hindenburg. Sure, it might
  • 00:07:42
    have been the final issue it
  • 00:07:45
    encountered, but things weren't exactly
  • 00:07:48
    smooth sailing before then.
  • 00:07:50
    But after Anderson, prosecutors became
  • 00:07:52
    very reluctant to risk putting a company
  • 00:07:55
    out of business. And that is when DPAs
  • 00:07:57
    became popular. In the decade prior to
  • 00:07:59
    Anderson's collapse, DPAs and NPAs had
  • 00:08:02
    been used just 18 times. But in the 14
  • 00:08:04
    years following, the DOJ entered into
  • 00:08:06
    419
  • 00:08:08
    such settlements. And the argument for
  • 00:08:10
    DPAs is that they prevent innocent
  • 00:08:13
    employees from getting hurt, dissuade
  • 00:08:15
    future wrongdoing, and still allow the
  • 00:08:18
    DOJ to go after individuals. But there
  • 00:08:20
    are problems with literally all that.
  • 00:08:22
    For starters, nearly half of those
  • 00:08:23
    getting deferred and non-prosecution
  • 00:08:26
    agreements paid no fine at all. And when
  • 00:08:28
    it comes to individuals, in twothirds of
  • 00:08:31
    cases, no employees were prosecuted. And
  • 00:08:33
    to show you just how glaringly apparent
  • 00:08:35
    this system shortcomings can be, we're
  • 00:08:37
    going to focus on three companies. GM,
  • 00:08:40
    HSBC, and Boeing. We actually talked
  • 00:08:42
    about GM all the way back in our first
  • 00:08:45
    season. But just in case I wasted my
  • 00:08:48
    precious, let's call it youth shouting
  • 00:08:50
    at you about things you don't remember,
  • 00:08:52
    here is a quick refresher on what the
  • 00:08:54
    company did wrong. Last year, GM began
  • 00:08:57
    recalling 2 and a half million cars with
  • 00:08:59
    ignition switches that could suddenly
  • 00:09:00
    shut off the engine, cutting off the
  • 00:09:02
    power to the airbags and disabling the
  • 00:09:05
    power steering and power brakes, causing
  • 00:09:07
    crashes. GM has since determined that
  • 00:09:09
    the switches caused accidents that led
  • 00:09:13
    to 124 deaths and 273 injuries. Yeah, it
  • 00:09:17
    was a wild story. GM sold cars with
  • 00:09:19
    faulty switches that could shut off the
  • 00:09:22
    engine, steering, brakes, and airbags
  • 00:09:23
    despite the fact that they are, and this
  • 00:09:25
    is true, some of the key differences
  • 00:09:27
    between something being an automobile or
  • 00:09:30
    a metal coffin moving at 70 mph. And
  • 00:09:32
    there was evidence the company knew
  • 00:09:34
    about the problem. In 2008, they showed
  • 00:09:36
    their employees a PowerPoint encouraging
  • 00:09:38
    them to avoid words like problem,
  • 00:09:41
    safety, and defect when writing about
  • 00:09:43
    GM's cars and added as a fun joke that
  • 00:09:45
    they should also probably stay away from
  • 00:09:48
    terms like kavorinesesque, tomblike,
  • 00:09:51
    maniacal, or rolling sarcophagus.
  • 00:09:53
    And I kind of hope that that just
  • 00:09:55
    inspired GM employees to use other
  • 00:09:58
    options instead, like the Widow Maker,
  • 00:10:00
    Chitty Chitty Smashbang, Final
  • 00:10:03
    Destination, The Car, and the Lean Mean
  • 00:10:06
    James Dean machine. GM reached a DPA
  • 00:10:08
    with the government in 2015, which meant
  • 00:10:11
    they didn't have to plead guilty, just
  • 00:10:13
    agreed to a statement of facts about
  • 00:10:14
    their misconduct. For instance, they
  • 00:10:17
    admitted that by early 2012, they not
  • 00:10:19
    only knew about the problem, they were
  • 00:10:21
    aware of several fatal incidents that
  • 00:10:23
    may have been caused by the defective
  • 00:10:24
    switch. And while the law required GM to
  • 00:10:26
    report such knowledge to the government
  • 00:10:28
    within 5 days, it took them
  • 00:10:31
    approximately 20 months, which fun fact
  • 00:10:32
    is around the length of an elephant's
  • 00:10:35
    gestational period. And if writing an
  • 00:10:38
    email takes longer than making a
  • 00:10:41
    elephant from scratch, there is clearly
  • 00:10:44
    something else going on. Now, as part of
  • 00:10:46
    GM's DPA, they did have to pay a $900
  • 00:10:48
    million fine. And Mary Bar, their then
  • 00:10:51
    and current CEO, went to great lengths
  • 00:10:53
    to argue that the deal was not letting
  • 00:10:55
    them off easy.
  • 00:10:58
    This is a tough agreement. It further
  • 00:11:00
    highlights the mistakes that were made
  • 00:11:04
    by certain people in GM and it imposes
  • 00:11:07
    significant penalties and obligations.
  • 00:11:09
    Okay, but I don't know how significant a
  • 00:11:12
    $900 million fine was to a company whose
  • 00:11:14
    profits were just under $10 billion that
  • 00:11:17
    year. I'm not saying it's nothing, but
  • 00:11:20
    9% of one year's profits just doesn't
  • 00:11:21
    seem enough for essentially marketing
  • 00:11:23
    the automotive equivalent of the Titan
  • 00:11:25
    submersible.
  • 00:11:27
    Also, while she said mistakes were made
  • 00:11:30
    by certain people at GM, notably, no
  • 00:11:33
    individuals ended up facing charges for
  • 00:11:35
    any part of this. And that's something
  • 00:11:37
    extra glawing for people like Candace
  • 00:11:39
    Anderson. She lost control of her car in
  • 00:11:40
    a crash that killed her boyfriend. And
  • 00:11:43
    when GM conducted an internal review of
  • 00:11:45
    the accident in 2007, they ruled that
  • 00:11:48
    their car was to blame. Unfortunately,
  • 00:11:50
    they never told anyone that. Instead,
  • 00:11:53
    allowing Candace to plead guilty to
  • 00:11:56
    negligent homicide 5 months later.
  • 00:11:57
    Thankfully, her conviction has since
  • 00:11:58
    been overturned, but the way that she
  • 00:12:01
    sees it, that's not nearly enough.
  • 00:12:04
    There's someone within General Motors
  • 00:12:07
    that should be held responsible.
  • 00:12:08
    Are you saying that you think
  • 00:12:10
    individuals at General Motors should
  • 00:12:12
    stand trial?
  • 00:12:16
    Yeah, I do. They didn't have a problem
  • 00:12:19
    sitting by while I was charged.
  • 00:12:22
    Yeah, I get that. If someone does
  • 00:12:24
    something terrible to you, it is
  • 00:12:26
    understandable to want them to get a
  • 00:12:27
    taste of their own medicine. It's one of
  • 00:12:29
    the many reasons why I personally love
  • 00:12:31
    to see someone on a pigeon. Yeah,
  • 00:12:34
    not so much fun when we do it to you, is
  • 00:12:36
    it pigeons?
  • 00:12:39
    And look, thankfully GM hasn't killed
  • 00:12:41
    any more people with its cars since then
  • 00:12:44
    as of taping. But other companies with
  • 00:12:46
    DPAs have shown a much greater
  • 00:12:48
    propensity for recidivism. And that
  • 00:12:50
    brings us to our second example, HSBC. A
  • 00:12:52
    few years back, it got in trouble for
  • 00:12:54
    allowing Mexican cartels to launder at
  • 00:12:56
    least $881 million in drug trafficking
  • 00:12:59
    proceeds and facilitating approximately
  • 00:13:01
    $660 million in transactions involving
  • 00:13:03
    sanctioned regimes like Burma, Iran,
  • 00:13:06
    Cuba, and Libya. Here is how bad it was.
  • 00:13:08
    At one point, Mexican law enforcement
  • 00:13:10
    recorded a cartel leader on a wiretap
  • 00:13:13
    saying HSBC was the place to launder
  • 00:13:16
    money. And the Sinaloa cartel deposited
  • 00:13:18
    so much money in their bank that the
  • 00:13:20
    cartel designed special cash boxes to
  • 00:13:23
    fit HSBC's teller windows, which is
  • 00:13:25
    surprisingly considerate in a way. After
  • 00:13:27
    all, who hasn't been stuck in a teller
  • 00:13:30
    line behind some guy trying to stuff a
  • 00:13:31
    blood soaked duffel full of cash through
  • 00:13:34
    the window? Finally, a cartel that
  • 00:13:37
    thinks about other people's time.
  • 00:13:39
    Now, in response, HSBC put together a
  • 00:13:41
    new compliance department, but it wasn't
  • 00:13:44
    exactly inspiring, as this man will tell
  • 00:13:46
    you. His name is Everett Stern, and he
  • 00:13:48
    once had a dream. Tell everyone about
  • 00:13:49
    your dream, Everett.
  • 00:13:51
    Sure. I mean, um I mean, my my my dream
  • 00:13:55
    was to join um uh uh the um CIA.
  • 00:13:57
    Okay, thanks, Everett. That's sounds
  • 00:14:00
    like a really nice dream. Unfortunately,
  • 00:14:03
    ever got rejected by the CIA, but he did
  • 00:14:05
    get hired as a compliance officer at
  • 00:14:08
    HSBC, which he was excited about until
  • 00:14:09
    he got there.
  • 00:14:11
    I remember like my first day on the job.
  • 00:14:14
    It was It was a shopping center. I It
  • 00:14:15
    wasn't like a bank building. I was
  • 00:14:17
    expecting to show up at this bank
  • 00:14:18
    building and I'm I'm in this suit. There
  • 00:14:21
    were all these people like in jeans and
  • 00:14:23
    t-shirts and I didn't understand what's
  • 00:14:24
    going on. And when I walked in, there
  • 00:14:27
    were all these empty cubicles and the
  • 00:14:29
    walls were half painted and there were
  • 00:14:31
    maybe 15 compliance officers in the
  • 00:14:33
    whole department. Uh, at the time I
  • 00:14:35
    thought I was like this they hired me
  • 00:14:38
    because I was like this smart guy and I,
  • 00:14:39
    you know, I had it all going and
  • 00:14:41
    everything and no, they hired me because
  • 00:14:42
    I was an idiot and I didn't know what I
  • 00:14:43
    was doing.
  • 00:14:47
    Yeah. As far as ever could see, HSBC was
  • 00:14:50
    intentionally looking to hire idiots.
  • 00:14:51
    And the only time that that is an
  • 00:14:53
    acceptable hiring strategy is if you're
  • 00:14:55
    casting a baby food commercial. We need
  • 00:14:57
    to hire, you know, one of those tiny
  • 00:14:58
    idiots who doesn't know what they're
  • 00:15:00
    doing. Oh, a baby. Sorry, a baby. That's
  • 00:15:03
    the word. We need to hire a baby. And
  • 00:15:05
    while HSBC was going through the motions
  • 00:15:07
    of compliance publicly, internally, they
  • 00:15:10
    were going to egregious lengths to avoid
  • 00:15:12
    it altogether. For example, the Treasury
  • 00:15:13
    keeps a list of sanctioned organizations
  • 00:15:15
    that banks aren't allowed to do business
  • 00:15:17
    with. On that list is a company called
  • 00:15:20
    Tajko, which has had ties to Hezbollah.
  • 00:15:22
    HSBC system should have automatically
  • 00:15:23
    flagged any transactions involving
  • 00:15:26
    Tajko. And yet, even a self-described
  • 00:15:28
    idiot who didn't know what he was doing
  • 00:15:29
    could quickly see that the bank was
  • 00:15:31
    processing thousands of dollars for
  • 00:15:33
    them. And I'll let him describe how he
  • 00:15:36
    discovered it and what he did next.
  • 00:15:38
    I noticed they were putting little dots
  • 00:15:42
    and dashes in the actual names in the
  • 00:15:44
    wire filter. So for instance, if you had
  • 00:15:46
    Tajiko that was sending money from
  • 00:15:49
    Hezbollah to some other organization,
  • 00:15:51
    instead of T AJCO
  • 00:15:53
    in the that that's the normal name for
  • 00:15:56
    it in the HSBC wire filter, it would be
  • 00:15:58
    T AJ.co
  • 00:16:01
    or T AJ-CO.
  • 00:16:04
    And that's how they criminally
  • 00:16:07
    manipulated the wire filter to allow
  • 00:16:09
    moneyaundering for terrorists and drug
  • 00:16:12
    cartels. This is why 3 weeks in I
  • 00:16:14
    started passing information to the CIA.
  • 00:16:17
    yeah you did, Em. yeah you
  • 00:16:21
    did. That is great news for him and
  • 00:16:23
    frankly terrible news for whoever
  • 00:16:25
    thought it was a good idea to hire an
  • 00:16:28
    aspiring CIA officer to oversee your
  • 00:16:30
    extremely lazy attempts to launder money
  • 00:16:33
    for criminals. And once the government
  • 00:16:35
    started poking around within HSBC, they
  • 00:16:37
    quickly found some pretty compelling
  • 00:16:40
    evidence. Internal documents show HSBC
  • 00:16:42
    executives knew exactly what they were
  • 00:16:45
    doing. "We are allowing organized
  • 00:16:46
    criminals to launder their money," wrote
  • 00:16:48
    one executive.
  • 00:16:50
    "Wow, it is hard to imagine how the
  • 00:16:52
    evidence could get more damning than
  • 00:16:55
    that, unless maybe the email signature
  • 00:16:57
    included the phrase sent from my crime
  • 00:17:00
    phone followed by the sh emoji." And
  • 00:17:02
    yet, incredibly, the government brought
  • 00:17:05
    no charges against individuals. The bank
  • 00:17:08
    itself just got a DPA and the terms of
  • 00:17:10
    it seems more than a little weak. For
  • 00:17:12
    example, it agreed to pay a fine of
  • 00:17:14
    almost $2 billion, which might sound
  • 00:17:16
    like a lot until you remember they made
  • 00:17:18
    over 13 billion in profits that year
  • 00:17:21
    alone. And look, maybe the DOJ really
  • 00:17:23
    thought that a hefty but entirely
  • 00:17:25
    manageable fine would make HSBC change
  • 00:17:27
    their ways. And the bank did agree to
  • 00:17:29
    monitoring and apparently even issued
  • 00:17:31
    their US-based staff certificates with
  • 00:17:34
    little parrots on them reading, "I am a
  • 00:17:37
    changed bird." But were they? Because
  • 00:17:39
    even that monitoring program illustrates
  • 00:17:42
    something immensely frustrating here
  • 00:17:43
    because DPAs aren't criminal
  • 00:17:45
    proceedings. Monitoring reports on
  • 00:17:47
    whether or not companies are complying
  • 00:17:49
    aren't required to be public records.
  • 00:17:52
    So, we don't really know what HSBC did
  • 00:17:55
    to clean up its act. But the glimpses we
  • 00:17:57
    got during that period aren't great. As
  • 00:17:59
    in the bank's own annual report, they
  • 00:18:00
    openly admitted that their monitor
  • 00:18:03
    expressed significant concerns about the
  • 00:18:06
    pace of their progress and instances of
  • 00:18:08
    potential financial crime. But despite
  • 00:18:11
    that, their DPA expired as planned at
  • 00:18:13
    the end of 2017 and the government
  • 00:18:15
    dropped all charges against them. So
  • 00:18:18
    they were in the clear until the very
  • 00:18:21
    next month when this happened. HSBC is
  • 00:18:23
    said to have agreed to pay $100 million
  • 00:18:25
    to resolve a US Justice Department
  • 00:18:27
    investigation into the rigging of
  • 00:18:29
    currency rates. A source tells Bloomberg
  • 00:18:31
    the deal includes a deferred prosecution
  • 00:18:34
    agreement and a promise to help with the
  • 00:18:36
    criminal case against former traders.
  • 00:18:38
    Yeah, they were caught again and they
  • 00:18:41
    got another DPA. That is ridiculous. At
  • 00:18:43
    this point, it's not even a deferred
  • 00:18:44
    prosecution agreement. It's more like
  • 00:18:46
    prosecutorial edging. I've said it
  • 00:18:50
    before and I'll say it again. Let the
  • 00:18:52
    government come.
  • 00:18:55
    And that is the thing here. DPAs and
  • 00:18:57
    their associated fines have now become a
  • 00:18:59
    routine cost of doing business, which is
  • 00:19:02
    a real problem because the stakes can be
  • 00:19:04
    incredibly high. Which brings us to our
  • 00:19:06
    final company, Boeing. Last year, we did
  • 00:19:08
    a whole segment about its fall from
  • 00:19:10
    grace and discuss their infamous 737 Max
  • 00:19:12
    planes, which have been involved in two
  • 00:19:15
    devastating crashes that killed 346
  • 00:19:16
    people. I won't recap the whole thing,
  • 00:19:19
    but suffice to say, there were flaws
  • 00:19:21
    with the aircraft's design, and they
  • 00:19:23
    weren't exactly a secret within the
  • 00:19:24
    company.
  • 00:19:26
    The 737 Max became Boeing's bestselling
  • 00:19:29
    jet ever. But in 2017, just as the
  • 00:19:31
    planes were taken to the skies
  • 00:19:34
    worldwide, a Boeing employee sent this
  • 00:19:36
    message to a colleague. This airplane is
  • 00:19:38
    designed by clowns, who in turn are
  • 00:19:41
    supervised by monkeys. Other employees
  • 00:19:43
    calling the design piss poor and
  • 00:19:46
    comparing the fixes to patching a leaky
  • 00:19:49
    boat. In October 2018, Lionaire flight
  • 00:19:53
    610 737 Max crashed, killing 189 people
  • 00:19:56
    on board. In May of that year, as Boeing
  • 00:19:58
    was pursuing FAA approval for the Max
  • 00:20:01
    flight simulator, one test pilot wrote,
  • 00:20:04
    "I'll be shocked if the FAA approves
  • 00:20:07
    this turd." Yeah, it seems like the only
  • 00:20:09
    real disagreement within Boeing was on
  • 00:20:11
    what hilarious language to use when
  • 00:20:13
    describing their catastrophic products.
  • 00:20:16
    Okay, so we got piss poor, leaky boat,
  • 00:20:18
    turd. You know what? Can someone get GM
  • 00:20:19
    on the phone and see if we can borrow
  • 00:20:22
    Kavorianesque from them? I kind of like
  • 00:20:24
    the sound of that. Following those
  • 00:20:26
    crashes, Boeing entered into a DPA in
  • 00:20:28
    2021, admitting to misrepresentations to
  • 00:20:31
    regulators about a key software feature
  • 00:20:33
    tied to the crashes. should also agree
  • 00:20:35
    to pay a fine and show 3 years of good
  • 00:20:37
    behavior in exchange for avoiding
  • 00:20:39
    prosecution. It's agreement that many
  • 00:20:41
    felt was toothless, especially given
  • 00:20:42
    that one judge involved with the case
  • 00:20:44
    later called what Boeing had done the
  • 00:20:47
    deadliest corporate crime in US history.
  • 00:20:49
    And following that DPA, things didn't
  • 00:20:51
    seem to improve much at Boeing. Because
  • 00:20:55
    by the start of 2024, just 2 days before
  • 00:20:56
    their three-year probationary period was
  • 00:20:59
    set to end, this happened. What was
  • 00:21:01
    supposed to be a short trip from
  • 00:21:03
    Portland to Ontario, California for
  • 00:21:05
    Garrett Cunningham turned out to be one
  • 00:21:07
    of the most frightening experiences of
  • 00:21:08
    his life.
  • 00:21:11
    A gush of of air. I look to my left and
  • 00:21:13
    part of the plane is gone.
  • 00:21:16
    Yeah, not ideal. It It is never good
  • 00:21:18
    when you feel a sudden gush of air on a
  • 00:21:20
    flight. Even if the plane hasn't just
  • 00:21:22
    cracked open, odds are it's going to be
  • 00:21:23
    the toddler in the seat behind you
  • 00:21:26
    breathing directly on your face or your
  • 00:21:27
    seatmate cracking the lid on a tub of
  • 00:21:29
    tuna salad they brought with them. There
  • 00:21:32
    is no surprise whoosh of air that brings
  • 00:21:35
    good tidings in a metal sky can. But in
  • 00:21:37
    this case, yeah, a door plug blew off a
  • 00:21:40
    737 Max mid-flight. An incident that was
  • 00:21:42
    a clear indication, according to the
  • 00:21:44
    DOJ, Boeing had violated its initial
  • 00:21:47
    DPA. But instead of then prosecuting
  • 00:21:50
    them, the DOJ offered them a plea deal
  • 00:21:51
    which just required them to pay another
  • 00:21:53
    fine, boost their spending on safety and
  • 00:21:55
    compliance programs, and report to an
  • 00:21:57
    independent monitor overseeing their
  • 00:21:59
    compliance. And this understandably
  • 00:22:02
    angered some of the family members of
  • 00:22:04
    crash victims. Here is the mother of one
  • 00:22:06
    of them summing it all up.
  • 00:22:08
    It seems that beginning of January, just
  • 00:22:10
    two days before the expiration of the
  • 00:22:14
    DPA, oops, I did it again. This is boy
  • 00:22:17
    in song. Oops, I did it again.
  • 00:22:20
    Yeah, that woman's outrage is completely
  • 00:22:22
    justified. And it's honestly smart to
  • 00:22:23
    site the musical cannon of Britney
  • 00:22:25
    Spears given that Boeing essentially
  • 00:22:28
    just pleaded not that innocent.
  • 00:22:30
    [Applause]
  • 00:22:33
    Yeah.
  • 00:22:36
    But it gets worse because this year the
  • 00:22:38
    Trump administration downgraded Boeing's
  • 00:22:40
    punishment to a nonprosecution
  • 00:22:41
    agreement, removing even the
  • 00:22:44
    hypothetical chance of prosecuting them
  • 00:22:45
    over this in the future, which is just
  • 00:22:48
    completely infuriating. Unless, I guess,
  • 00:22:50
    you're this guy on CNBC who chose to
  • 00:22:52
    announce the news like this.
  • 00:22:54
    The DOJ says it expects to file the
  • 00:22:55
    written agreement with Boeing by the end
  • 00:22:57
    of the week. Should be viewed as good
  • 00:22:58
    news. I wouldn't be surprised to see the
  • 00:23:01
    stock move higher. Yeah, great news
  • 00:23:03
    everyone. The stock should move higher.
  • 00:23:04
    So, I guess that's at least one thing
  • 00:23:07
    that Boeing can keep in the air.
  • 00:23:10
    But, but even if that is good news for
  • 00:23:12
    stockholders, it's clearly not great for
  • 00:23:14
    anyone else. Because while it means that
  • 00:23:15
    Boeing does have to pay out an
  • 00:23:18
    additional $444 million into a crash
  • 00:23:20
    victim's fund, they also avoid being
  • 00:23:22
    branded a convicted felon and will no
  • 00:23:24
    longer face oversight by an independent
  • 00:23:26
    monitor, but instead will hire a
  • 00:23:28
    compliance consultant. As one consumer
  • 00:23:30
    rights advocate puts it, this deal isn't
  • 00:23:32
    even a slap on the wrist. It's barely a
  • 00:23:35
    feather on the wrist. Look, clearly when
  • 00:23:37
    it comes to corporate accountability, we
  • 00:23:39
    have a problem here. Because a company
  • 00:23:41
    engages in flagrant misbehavior, even
  • 00:23:43
    putting evidence of it in writing,
  • 00:23:44
    people get hurt. They're caught
  • 00:23:46
    red-handed. The government finds them
  • 00:23:47
    and says, "You better not do that
  • 00:23:50
    again." Then they do, and the whole
  • 00:23:53
    cycle restarts. This is not sustainable.
  • 00:23:55
    And unfortunately, I wouldn't expect any
  • 00:23:57
    of that to change for at least say three
  • 00:23:59
    and a half years. But but it is worth
  • 00:24:01
    asking for a hypothetical future when we
  • 00:24:03
    have a government that isn't run by a
  • 00:24:05
    procorruption felon. What could we be
  • 00:24:08
    doing better to hold corporations
  • 00:24:10
    accountable? Well, we could make DPAs
  • 00:24:12
    more of a deterrent by making the fines
  • 00:24:14
    much more serious and prosecuting
  • 00:24:16
    executives a lot more often. We could
  • 00:24:18
    also bring both DPAs and NPAs into the
  • 00:24:20
    official legal system so that their
  • 00:24:22
    monitoring would be more transparent and
  • 00:24:23
    companies would build up records of
  • 00:24:25
    misconduct instead of constantly getting
  • 00:24:28
    to wipe their slate clean. But the hard
  • 00:24:30
    truth here is if we want more
  • 00:24:32
    accountability, the government is going
  • 00:24:34
    to have to show more willingness to
  • 00:24:37
    prosecute repeat offenders, even if it
  • 00:24:39
    affects a large company's ability to do
  • 00:24:42
    business, which really doesn't seem too
  • 00:24:44
    much to us because you've seen tonight
  • 00:24:47
    just how much damage companies can do
  • 00:24:49
    when they operate unchecked. And right
  • 00:24:51
    now we have a system where essentially
  • 00:24:53
    corporations can with very limited
  • 00:24:55
    resistance sell cars with a surprise off
  • 00:24:58
    button operate as a haven for blood
  • 00:25:00
    money and build planes that unbuild
  • 00:25:03
    themselves in the sky. And I'd argue
  • 00:25:05
    that to not make significant changes to
  • 00:25:07
    a system like that would be, if I may
  • 00:25:09
    quote GM's most cursed PowerPoint of all
  • 00:25:14
    time, maniacal.
タグ
  • corporate crime
  • Deferred Prosecution Agreements
  • Non-Prosecution Agreements
  • GM
  • HSBC
  • Boeing
  • accountability
  • law
  • business ethics
  • government enforcement