----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Givel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, September 06, 1999 5:04 PM Subject: The Criminal Element > > The Criminal Element > By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman > > The criminal element has seeped deep into every nook and cranny of > American society. > > Forget about the underworld -- these crooks dominate every aspect of > our market, culture, and politics. > > They cast a deep dark shadow over life in turn of the century > America. > > We buy gas from them (Exxon, Chevron, Unocal). > > We take pictures with their cameras and film (Eastman Kodak). > > We drink their beer (Coors). > > We buy insurance from them to guard against financial catastrophe if > we get sick (Blue Cross Blue Shield). > > And then when we get sick, we buy pharmaceuticals from them (Pfizer, > Warner Lambert, Ortho Pharmaceuticals). > > We do our laundry washers and dryers from them (General Electric). > > We vacation with them (Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines). > > We buy our food from them (Archer Daniels Midland, Southland, Tyson > Foods, U.S. Sugar). > > We drive with them (Hyundai) and fly with them (Korean Air Lines). > > All of these companies and more turned up on Corporate Crime > Reporter's list of the Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s, > released > this past week at a news conference at the National Press Club. > > Standing before a roomful of reporters and cameras (including a > C-Span camera which took us live to our TV nation), we made the > following > points: > > Every year, the major business magazines put out their annual surveys > of big business in America. > > You have the Fortune 500, the Forbes 400, the Forbes Platinum 100, > the International 800 -- among others. > > These lists rank big corporations by sales, assets, profits and > market share. The point of these surveys is simple -- to identify and > glorify the biggest and most profitable corporations. > > The point of releasing The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the Decade, > on the other hand, was to focus public attention on the pervasive > criminality that has corrupted the marketplace and that is given little > sustained attention and analysis by politicians and news outlets. > > To compile The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s, we used the > most narrow and conservative of definitions -- corporations that have > pled > guilty or no contest to crimes and have been criminally fined. And > still, > with the most narrow and conservative of definitions of corporate crime, > we came up with society's most powerful actors. > > Six corporations that made the list of the Top 100 Corporate > Criminals were criminal recidivist companies during the 1990s. > > Exxon, Royal Caribbean, Rockwell International, Warner-Lambert, > Teledyne, and United Technologies each pled guilty to more than one > crime > during the 1990s. > > And we warned that we in no way imply that these corporations are in > any way the worst or have committed the most egregious crimes. > > We did not try to assess and compare the damage committed by these > corporate criminals or by other corporate wrongdoers. > > We warned that companies that are criminally prosecuted represent > only the tip of a very large iceberg of corporate wrongdoing. > > For every company convicted of health care fraud, there are hundreds > of others who get away with ripping off Medicare and Medicaid, or face > only mild slap-on-the-wrist fines and civil penalties when caught. > > For every company convicted of polluting the nation's waterways, > there are many others who are not prosecuted because their corporate > defense lawyers are able to offer up a low-level employee to go to jail > in > exchange for a promise from prosecutors not to touch the company or > high-level executives. > > For every corporation convicted of bribery or of giving money > directly to a public official in violation of federal law, there are > thousands who give money legally through political action committees to > candidates and political parties. They profit from a system that > effectively has legalized bribery. > > For every corporation convicted of selling illegal pesticides, there > are hundreds more who are not prosecuted because their lobbyists have > worked their way in Washington to ensure that dangerous pesticides > remain > legal. > > For every corporation convicted of reckless homicide in the death of > a worker, there are hundreds of others that don't even get investigated > for reckless homicide when a worker is killed on the job. Only a few > district attorneys across the country (Michael McCann, the DA in > Milwaukee > County, Wisconsin, being one) regularly investigate workplace deaths as > homicides. > > We pointed out that corporations define the laws under which they > live. > > An argument can be made that the most egregious wrongful corporate > acts -- the genetic engineering of the food supply, or the systematic > pollution of the nation's air and waterways, or the bribery by corporate > criminals of the political parties -- are totally legal. > > For your convenience, we print here the list of 100 crooks that fall > well within a very conservative definition of criminality. > > Carry this list wherever you go, and when the subject turns to crime, > feel free to pull out the list and lash the criminal element. > > > THE TOP 100 CORPORATE CRIMINALS OF THE 1990S > > 1) F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $500 million > > 2) Daiwa Bank Ltd. > Type of Crime: Financial > Criminal Fine: $340 million > > 3) BASF Aktiengesellschaft > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $225 million > > 4) SGL Carbon Aktiengesellschaft (SGL AG) > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $135 million > > 5) Exxon Corporation and Exxon Shipping > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $125 million > > 6) UCAR International, Inc. > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $110 million > > 7) Archer Daniels Midland > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $100 million > > 8)(tie) Banker's Trust > Type of Crime: Financial > Criminal Fine: $60 million > > 8)(tie) Sears Bankruptcy Recovery Management Services > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $60 million > > 10) Haarman & Reimer Corp. > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal fine: $50 million > > 11) Louisiana-Pacific Corporation > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $37 million > > 12) Hoechst AG > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $36 million > > 13) Damon Clinical Laboratories, Inc. > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $35.2 million > > 14) C.R. Bard Inc. > Type of Crime: Food and drug > Criminal Fine: $30.9 million > 7 Corporate Crime Reporter 41(1), October 25, 1993 > > 15) Genentech Inc. > Type of Crime: Food and drug > Criminal Fine: $30 million > > 16) Nippon Gohsei > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $21 million > > 17)(tie) Pfizer Inc. > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $20 million > > 17)(tie) Summitville Consolidated Mining Co. Inc. > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $20 million > 10 Corporate Crime Reporter 20(3) May 20, 1996 > > 19)(tie) Lucas Western Inc. > Type of Crime: False Statements > Criminal Fine: $18.5 million > 9 Corporate Crime Reporter 4(6), January 30, 1995 > > 19)(tie) Rockwell International Corporation > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $18.5 million > > 21) Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $18 million > > 22) Teledyne Industries Inc. > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $17.5 million > > 23) Northrop > Type of Crime: False statements > Criminal Fine: $17 million > > 24) Litton Applied Technology Division (ATD) and > Litton Systems Canada (LSL) > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $16.5 million > > 25) Iroquois Pipeline Operating Company > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $15 million > > 26) Eastman Chemical Company > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $11 million > > 27) Copley Pharmaceutical, Inc. > Type of Crime: Food and drug > Criminal Fine: $10.65 million > > 28) Lonza AG > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $10.5 million > > 29) Kimberly Home Health Care Inc. > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $10.08 million > > 30)(tie) Ajinomoto Co. Inc. > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $10 million > > 30)(tie) Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) > Type of Crime: Financial > Criminal Fine: $10 million > > 30)(tie) Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd. > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $10 million > > 30)(tie) Warner-Lambert Company > Type of Crime: Food and drug > Criminal Fine: $10 million > > 34) General Electric > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $9.5 million > > 35)(tie) Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $9 million > > 35)(tie) Showa Denko Carbon > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $9 million > > 37) IBM East Europe/Asia Ltd. > Type of Crime: Illegal exports > Criminal Fine: $8.5 million > > 38) Empire Sanitary Landfill Inc. > Type of crime: Campaign finance > Criminal fine: $8 million > > 39)(tie) Colonial Pipeline Company > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $7 million > > 39)(tie) Eklof Marine Corporation > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $7 million > > 41)(tie) Chevron > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $6.5 million > > 41)(tie) Rockwell International Corporation > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $6.5 million > > 43) Tokai Carbon Ltd. Co. > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $6 million > > 44)(tie) Allied Clinical Laboratories, Inc. > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $5 million > > 44)(tie) Northern Brands International Inc. > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $5 million > > 44)(tie) Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation > Type of Crime: Obstruction of justice > Criminal Fine: $5 million > > 44)(tie) Unisys > Type of Crime: Bribery > Criminal Fine: $5 million > > 44)(tie) Georgia Pacific Corporation > Type of Crime: Tax evasion > Criminal Fine: $5 million > 5 Corporate Crime Reporter 38(8), October 7, 1991 > > 49) Kanzaki Specialty Papers Inc. > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $4.5 million > > 50) ConAgra Inc. > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $4.4 million > > 51) Ryland Mortgage Company > Type of Crime: Financial > Criminal Fine: $4.2 million > > 52)(tie) Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $4 million > > 52)(tie) Borden Inc. > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $4 million > > 52)(tie) Dexter Corporation > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $4 million > > 52)(tie) Southland Corporation > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $4 million > > 52)(tie) Teledyne Industries Inc. > Type of Crime: Illegal exports > Criminal Fine: $4 million > > 52)(tie) Tyson Foods Inc. > Type of Crime: Public corruption > Criminal Fine: $4 million > > 58)(tie) Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $3.75 million > > 58)(tie) Costain Coal Inc. > Type of Crime: Worker Death > Criminal Fine: $3.75 million > > 58)(tie) United States Sugar Corporation > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $3.75 million > > 61) Saybolt, Inc., Saybolt North America > Type of Crime: Environmental, bribery > Criminal Fine: $3.4 million > > 62)(tie) Bristol-Myers Squibb > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $3 million > > 62)(tie) Chemical Waste Management Inc. > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $3 million > > 62)(tie) Ketchikan Pulp Company > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $3 million > > 62)(tie) United Technologies Corporation > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $3 million > > 62)(tie) Warner-Lambert Inc. > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $3 million > > 67)(tie) Arizona Chemical Co. Inc. > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $2.5 million > > 67)(tie) Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $2.5 million > > 69) International Paper > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $2.2 million > > 70)(tie) Consolidated Edison Company > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $2 million > > 70)(tie) Crop Growers Corporation > Type of Crime: Campaign finance > Criminal fine: $2 million > > 70)(tie) E-Systems Inc. > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $2 million > > 70)(tie) HAL Beheer BV > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $2 million > > 70)(tie) John Morrell and Company > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $2 million > > 70)(tie) United Technologies Corporation > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $2 million > > 76) Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi International Corporation > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $1.8 million > > 77)(tie) Blue Shield of California > Type of Crime: Fraud > Criminal Fine: $1.5 million > > 77)(tie) Browning-Ferris Inc. > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $1.5 million > > 77)(tie) Odwalla Inc. > Type of Crime: Food and drug > Criminal Fine: $1.5 million > > 77)(tie) Teledyne Inc. > Type of Crime: False statements > Criminal Fine: $1.5 million > > 77)(tie) Unocal Corporation > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $1.5 million > > 82)(tie) Doyon Drilling Inc. > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $1 million > > 82)(tie) Eastman Kodak > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $1 million > > 82)(tie) Case Corporation > Type of Crime: Illegal exports > Criminal Fine: $1 million > > 85) Marathon Oil > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $900,000 > > 86) Hyundai Motor Company > Type of Crime: Campaign finance > Criminal Fine: $600,000 > > 87)(tie) Baxter International Inc. > Type of Crime: Illegal Boycott > Criminal Fine: $500,000 > > 87)(tie) Bethship-Sabine Yard > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $500,000 > > 87(tie) Palm Beach Cruises > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $500,000 > > 87)(tie) Princess Cruises Inc. > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $500,000 > > 91)(tie) Cerestar Bioproducts BV > Type of Crime: Antitrust > Criminal Fine: $400,000 > > 91)(tie) Sun-Land Products of California > Type of Crime: Campaign finance > Criminal Fine: $400,000 > > 93)(tie) American Cyanamid > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $250,000 > > 93)(tie) Korean Air Lines > Type of Crime: Campaign finance > Criminal Fine: $250,000 > > 93)(tie) Regency Cruises Inc. > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $250,000 > > 96)(tie) Adolph Coors Company > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $200,000 > > 96)(tie) Andrew and Williamson Sales Co. > Type of crime: Food and drug > Criminal fine: $200,000 > > 96)(tie) Daewoo International (America) Corporation > Type of Fine: Campaign finance > Criminal Fine: $200,000 > > 96)(tie) Exxon Corporation > Type of Crime: Environmental > Criminal Fine: $200,000 > > 100) Samsung America Inc. > Type of Crime: Campaign finance > Criminal Fine: $150,000 > > > Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime > Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based > Multinational Monitor. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The > Hunt for Mega Profits and the Attack on Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common > Courage Press, 1999, http://www.corporatepredators.org) > > (c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman. > > ----------------------------------------------------- > > Focus on the Corporation is a weekly column written by Russell Mokhiber > and Robert Weissman. Please feel free to forward the column to friends > or > repost the column on other lists. If you would like to post the column > on > a web site or publish it in print format, we ask that you first contact > us > ([EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]). > > Focus on the Corporation is distributed to individuals on the listserve > [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to corp-focus, send an e-mail > message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following all in one line: > > subscribe corp-focus <your name> (no period). > > Focus on the Corporation columns are posted at > <http://lists.essential.org/corp-focus>. > > Postings on corp-focus are limited to the columns. If you would like to > comment on the columns, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -- > For MAI-not (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and > links to other MAI sites please see http://mai.flora.org/ >
