[R-G] 150 Years (Madoff's sentence)

[Sid Shniad]

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June 30, 2009 

150 Years 



Twenty-five years ago, poisonous gas escaped from a factory run by the 
chemical company Union Carbide in Bhopal, India. Many thousands died, 
many more were debilitated or badly injured, and the plant site remains 
polluted. Despite charges of culpable homicide, executives from Union 
Carbide (now merged into Dow Chemical) were never tried or sent to jail. 


By Robert Weissman 


One hundred and fifty years jail time for Bernard Madoff is a good thing. 

To listen to the victims of his swindle, or read their words, is to 
appreciate the very far-reaching ways in which Madoff's quiet crime has 
wreaked havoc on the lives of thousands of families. 

Federal District Judge Denny Chin was absolutely right in denouncing 
Madoff's crimes as "extraordinarily evil," and giving him the maximum 
sentence. Punishment is no substitute for prevention, but the sentence 
provides a modicum of justice to the victims and will exert some modest 
deterrent effect against future potential swindlers. 

The 150-year sentence is headline grabbing, but what should surprise us 
is not that Madoff got such a long sentence, but that other corporate 
criminals escape with light sentences or no criminal prosecution at all. 

In August 2006, U.S. Federal District Court Judge Judith Kessler 
adjudged the leading tobacco companies to have engaged in a 50-year long 
conspiracy to deceive the public about the health risks of smoking and 
to addict children to tobacco. Millions in the United States -- and many 
more around the world -- have died as a result of this conspiracy. But 
you won't find any tobacco executives in jail for this "extraordinary evil." 

Twenty-five years ago, poisonous gas escaped from a factory run by the 
chemical company Union Carbide in Bhopal, India. Many thousands died, 
many more were debilitated or badly injured, and the plant site remains 
polluted. Despite charges of culpable homicide, executives from Union 
Carbide (now merged into Dow Chemical) were never tried or sent to jail. 

In 1989, the Exxon Valdez hit a reef in Prince William Sound Alaska. 
Eleven million gallons of crude oil spilled onto 1,500 miles of Alaskan 
shoreline, killing birds and fish. The spill ruined the livelihoods of 
thousands of Native Americans, fishermen and others. The captain was 
convicted of a misdemeanor and sentenced to community service. Exxon 
pled guilty to misdemeanor violations of federal environmental laws. No 
executives went to jail. 

Victims of horrendous human rights abuses and environmental destruction 
caused and abetted by oil companies operating in Burma (Unocal/Chevron), 
Nigeria (Shell and Chevron), Ecuador (Texaco/Chevron) and Indonesia 
(Exxon), among other places, have -- with lawyers and international 
solidarity campaigns -- waged heroic and increasingly successful efforts 
to obtain monetary compensation for the wrongs they have suffered. But 
there's no prospect of CEO and executive perpetrators of those wrongs 
being criminally prosecuted. 

For two decades, the multinational oil companies and the giant coal 
producers have engaged -- and continue to engage -- in a prolonged 
campaign to deny and discredit climate change science. In doing so, they 
have imperiled the planet and its people. Paul Krugman, properly, calls 
this treason against the planet. But while execution is the highest 
penalty for treason against country, treason against the planet won't 
even get you the equivalent of a parking ticket. 

What to make of the disparity between the appropriate sentencing for 
Bernard Madoff and the get-out-of-jail free approach for other leading 
corporate criminals and malefactors? There are a few lessons and 
conclusions. 

First, the Madoff case differs from many of these other examples of 
corporate wrongdoing in that the individual perpetrator is so closely 
related to the victims. Although he was handling billions of dollars, 
Madoff had a skeleton staff, and he had personal connections with many 
of those he swindled. As a result, the victims and the public's anger is 
visceral and very targeted -- not directed at an amorphous giant 
corporation. 

Second, Madoff's victims have power. They have the ability to hire 
lawyers, and to organize for redress and retribution. Corporate crime 
victims in poor communities, or in poor countries, generally do not have 
this kind of power. Nor do those who will fall victim in the future to 
consequences of actions carried out today. 

Third, and relatedly, the penalties for financial crimes are generally 
much stiffer than for other corporate crimes. The New York Times has an 
interesting feature comparing Madoff's sentence to other white-collar, 
financial criminals, many of them convicted of Enron-era crimes; 
Madoff's sentence is much longer, but the others received stiff 
penalties as well. By contrast, it is very rare to see a felony 
prosecution for corporate killings. 

Finally, and most important, one of the signal powers of corporations is 
their ability to influence the law and culture so that their most 
heinous acts are not considered criminal. Knowingly addict millions of 
children to a deadly habit? Not a crime. Collaborate with military 
regimes and destroy lives and livelihoods in poor countries? Not a 
crime. Endanger the planet with greenhouse gas pollution -- and then 
mobilize politically to block emergency efforts to save the earth? Not a 
crime. 

The world is a little bit more just today, after the sentencing of 
Bernie Madoff. When other corporate culprits are sentenced comparably, 
the world will be a lot more just. 


Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational 
Monitor, <http://www.multinationalmonitor.org> and director of Essential 
Action <http://www.essentialaction.org>. 

(c) Robert Weissman 

This article is posted at: 
<http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2009/000321.html>. 


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