While the newspapers, news broadcasters, and social media may highlight the most high-profile examples of corporate collapses and scandal, they are hardly isolated incidents. Well known corporations are behind some of the biggest scandals of the decade, some corporations include Wells Fargo, McKession Corp., and Equifax. Each story is result of a corporate culture that values profit over accountability, integrity, and opportunity, or in other words wants more “bang for its buck.” The potential negative impact for corporate misconduct is the legal consequences, such as penalty, fines, and/or jail time. Despite this, corrupt corporations are willing to commit wrongful acts in order to gain large incentives. “The world’s 20 leading banks spent an estimate $350 billion on costs related to misconduct over the last five years, including penalties, fines, settlements, and other legal expenses.”
It seems like there is little we can do to stop the corporate cover-ups, conspiracies, and brazen fraud from happening. Corporations are actually cutting back on compliance training, and some do not have compliance training at all. At the same time, “white collar prosecutions by the Department of Justice under the Trump administration are at a 20-year low.” So, what are our options? Lawsuits have proven to be the most effective tool to weed out corporate misconduct and negligent behavior. The civil justice system has never been more important, and it is time for corporations and employees to be held responsible for committing wrongful acts.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of fraud, contact an attorney at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner by calling (713) 222-7211 or toll free at 713-222-7211.