By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
(Used with Permission of Authors)
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
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
----------------------------------------------
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