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An analysis released Thursday offers both a scathing indictment of the Biden administration's lax approach to corporate crime enforcement and a warning of what's to come under President Donald Trump, whose administration is packed with billionaires and former lobbyists with close business ties.
The new report from Public Citizen, based on data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, shows that former President Joe Biden's Justice Department prosecuted just 80 corporations during his final year in office—the lowest level of any year over the past three decades.
"Over the course of the four fiscal years that correspond to Biden's four-year term, the DOJ brought fewer prosecutions against corporations than any of the previous four U.S. presidents over the course of any four-year term," Public Citizen found.
But the first few months of the second Trump administration have provided good reason to believe corporate crime enforcement could be headed for a new low.
"Corporate enforcement plummeted the first time Trump took office, and the current administration has already halted or dropped more than 100 enforcement actions against corporate misconduct," Public Citizen observed.
Trump's Justice Department, headed by former corporate lobbyist Pam Bondi, "inherited at least 188 investigations and cases against alleged corporate misconduct from the Biden DOJ, 27 of which have been halted and ten of which have already been dismissed or withdrawn," the group added, pointing to its corporate enforcement tracker.
The president also issued "what may be the first ever presidential pardon for a corporate criminal" when he used his clemency power to let the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX off the hook.
Rick Claypool, a research director for Public Citizen and author of the new report, said in a statement that "the Biden administration's broken promise to crack down on corporate crime was a tragic missed opportunity to restore faith in the Justice Department by demonstrating that the wealthy and powerful are not above the law."
"Now that Trump is in power," Claypool added, "there's every reason to expect a drop off in corporate enforcement from the already low Biden baseline."
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An analysis released Thursday offers both a scathing indictment of the Biden administration's lax approach to corporate crime enforcement and a warning of what's to come under President Donald Trump, whose administration is packed with billionaires and former lobbyists with close business ties.
The new report from Public Citizen, based on data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, shows that former President Joe Biden's Justice Department prosecuted just 80 corporations during his final year in office—the lowest level of any year over the past three decades.
"Over the course of the four fiscal years that correspond to Biden's four-year term, the DOJ brought fewer prosecutions against corporations than any of the previous four U.S. presidents over the course of any four-year term," Public Citizen found.
But the first few months of the second Trump administration have provided good reason to believe corporate crime enforcement could be headed for a new low.
"Corporate enforcement plummeted the first time Trump took office, and the current administration has already halted or dropped more than 100 enforcement actions against corporate misconduct," Public Citizen observed.
Trump's Justice Department, headed by former corporate lobbyist Pam Bondi, "inherited at least 188 investigations and cases against alleged corporate misconduct from the Biden DOJ, 27 of which have been halted and ten of which have already been dismissed or withdrawn," the group added, pointing to its corporate enforcement tracker.
The president also issued "what may be the first ever presidential pardon for a corporate criminal" when he used his clemency power to let the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX off the hook.
Rick Claypool, a research director for Public Citizen and author of the new report, said in a statement that "the Biden administration's broken promise to crack down on corporate crime was a tragic missed opportunity to restore faith in the Justice Department by demonstrating that the wealthy and powerful are not above the law."
"Now that Trump is in power," Claypool added, "there's every reason to expect a drop off in corporate enforcement from the already low Biden baseline."
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An analysis released Thursday offers both a scathing indictment of the Biden administration's lax approach to corporate crime enforcement and a warning of what's to come under President Donald Trump, whose administration is packed with billionaires and former lobbyists with close business ties.
The new report from Public Citizen, based on data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, shows that former President Joe Biden's Justice Department prosecuted just 80 corporations during his final year in office—the lowest level of any year over the past three decades.
"Over the course of the four fiscal years that correspond to Biden's four-year term, the DOJ brought fewer prosecutions against corporations than any of the previous four U.S. presidents over the course of any four-year term," Public Citizen found.
But the first few months of the second Trump administration have provided good reason to believe corporate crime enforcement could be headed for a new low.
"Corporate enforcement plummeted the first time Trump took office, and the current administration has already halted or dropped more than 100 enforcement actions against corporate misconduct," Public Citizen observed.
Trump's Justice Department, headed by former corporate lobbyist Pam Bondi, "inherited at least 188 investigations and cases against alleged corporate misconduct from the Biden DOJ, 27 of which have been halted and ten of which have already been dismissed or withdrawn," the group added, pointing to its corporate enforcement tracker.
The president also issued "what may be the first ever presidential pardon for a corporate criminal" when he used his clemency power to let the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX off the hook.
Rick Claypool, a research director for Public Citizen and author of the new report, said in a statement that "the Biden administration's broken promise to crack down on corporate crime was a tragic missed opportunity to restore faith in the Justice Department by demonstrating that the wealthy and powerful are not above the law."
"Now that Trump is in power," Claypool added, "there's every reason to expect a drop off in corporate enforcement from the already low Biden baseline."
From Your Site Articles