In this day of market meltdowns, failed recalls, and foreign bribery scandals, it’s commonplace to hear calls for criminal prosecution of individuals who, in the public’s mind, should be held responsible for such calamities.
These calls predictably prompt apologetic responses, in turn calling for new regulation, beefed-up federal resources, and harsher penalties. Possibly lost in all this buzz has been Attorney General Eric Holder’s recently-announced prescription for curing such perceived ills, corresponding with the Justice Department’s recent prosecution of FedEx in a case that marks a dramatic extension of the “failure to prevent” theory of criminal liability. Corporate compliance officers need take notice.
