Since the financial crisis, nearly every headline addressing market manipulation and financial fraud raises the inevitable question – why isn’t anyone going to jail? Given this constant concern, the DOJ announcement on Wednesday of its new strategy to prosecute corporate crime by focusing on the individual actors who commit wrongdoing—no matter how senior in the company—has not yet received the full attention it deserves. The DOJ’s new guidelines mark a massive shift in how the agency will fight misconduct and deter future infractions, a move away from what’s essentially been a 16-year “too big to jail” policy that prized corporate stability and avoiding “collateral consequences” over what many consider justice. The goal is to hold the culpable parties responsible and restore public confidence in the legal regulatory and enforcement system. Carrying out this policy shift may well prove challenging, especially in an ever-more-complex global financial system, but it will make for a very interesting next couple of years.
S.P. Slaughter
Follow me on Twitter: @SP_Slaughter
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