General Motors settles criminal case over ignition switches
Source: AP
By TOM HAYS, ERIC TUCKER and TOM KRISHER
NEW YORK (AP) General Motors admitted it failed to disclose to the public a deadly problem with small-car ignition switches as part of a $900 million deal reached with federal authorities to avoid criminal charges, authorities announced Thursday.
The automaker will retain an independent monitor to review and assess its policies to ensure compliance with the agreement with the government, according to court papers released by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan.
The prosecutor planned a noon news conference Thursday to formally announce the deal. Court papers pertaining to it were signed Wednesday.
Besides the $900 million forfeiture and the monitor, the deal calls for two criminal charges to be dismissed if the company complies with terms of the agreement for three years. The $900 million must be paid by Sept. 24.
FULL story at link.
FILE - This April 1, 2014, file photo shows a key in the ignition switch of a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt in Alexandria, Va. Federal prosecutors have reached agreement with General Motors to resolve a criminal investigation into how the Detroit automaker broke the law by concealing a deadly problem with small-car ignition switches, multiple people briefed on the case said Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Molly Riley, File)
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e1207eccc10c4f2a8ef550da95e121c0/gm-said-settle-criminal-case-over-ignition-switches
pipoman
(16,038 posts)Such a crockoshit...
Orrex
(63,086 posts)They're the job creators, after all.
CanSocDem
(3,286 posts)....snip.....
The company acknowledged that some of its employees knew about the problem for more than a decade, but no cars were recalled until early last year. GM hired former federal prosecutor Anton Valukas to investigate the matter, and he found no wrongdoing on the part of top executives. Instead, he blamed the problem on a bureaucratic corporate culture that hid problems and failed to take action.
Darn that pesky capitalism. CorporateAmerica , just out to make a buck, gets penalized because they place company profits over public safety. Is there no justice? No honour among thieves?
.
valerief
(53,235 posts)From OP link.
Attorney in Texas
(3,373 posts)bananas
(27,509 posts)christx30
(6,241 posts)and destruction from an ongoing negligent act, they would spend the rest of their life in prison. But when it's a corporate person that does this, they just pay a fee (cost of doing business), and they get watched for a while.
But there is someone there that knew something ahead of time. Someone that gave the go ahead.
From Fight Club:
JACK (V.O.)
I'm a recall coordinator. My job is to apply the formula.
Take the number of vehicles in the field, (A), and multiply it by the probable rate of failure, (B), then multiply the result by the average out-of-court settlement, (C).
A * B * C = X
If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.
mitch96
(13,821 posts)Big banks can tank the economy for big profits
. and pay a fee (the cost of doing business) and get off.
Big corporations can make a product that kills people and pay a fee (the cost of doing business) and get off.
Nobody went to jail, nobody arrested, nobody charged with the death of the 127 people who died and God knows how many people big pharma has killed..
But if you or I do anything like that
we get the chair or go to jail
Right???
Now the law says corporations are people
with immunity from the law
Am I messed up or what..
Love this bumper sticker I saw
"I'll Believe Corporations Are People When Texas Executes One"
m