HSBC are well known for making their money selling Opium in China in the 19th Century. But now in the 21st Century US corporations are openly selling death on the streets of America — and getting away with it. I’m not talking guns.
We’re talking painkillers.
Four firms just settled for hundreds of millions of dollars out of court in Ohio today to avoid facing a public hearing .
Here is what the FT are saying:
Opioid-companies-head-off-bellwether-trial-with-260m-settlement-Financial-TimesAnd this from the Wall Street journal:
Four-Drug-Companies-Reach-Last-Minute-Settlement-in-Opioid-Litigation-WSJToo Big to Jail cases in banking usually end with a Deferred Prosection Agreement (DPA) in which the defendant avoids the taint of criminality but is officially on probation for a few years.
According to Brandon Garrett, author of Too Big to Jail, the Deferred Prosecution Agreement has its origins in regular street drug dealers.
Funny how drugs and money go together so well.
UK Serious Fraud Office boss is Lisa Osofsky. She just closed an investigation into LIBOR rigging. In her year in charge so far they haven’t really gone after the banks.
Osofsky was once lead counsel for Goldman Sachs and did several years at UK-based mercenary firm Control Risks before moving onto Exiger the “Compliance Monitoring” firm born of the 2012 DPA with HSBC.
So she knows a thing or two about White Collar Crime.
Bloomberg were very honest about the dilemma facing the SFO a year and a half ago, before Osofsky was appointed.
With Brexit happening, UK needs to show that its “open for business” and not that it’s Serious about Fraud.
Surprise surprise…
As Osofsky is not going after banks and carrying out less raids, that must be good for Britain’s reputation as a good place to do business!
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