Banks hit with $549 million in fines for use of Signal, WhatsApp to evade regulators’ reach::Wells Fargo, a relatively small player on Wall Street, racked up the most fines Tuesday, with a total of $200 million in penalties.

  • db2@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    It’s cost if doing business for them though, the “fines” are a farce, just protection money paid to a gang.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      they really need to start with forfeiting all profits. and then maybe a percentage-based fine on top of that.

      make it really painful, in the only place these people can be hurt.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          it’s more complicated when it’s an entire corporation. Corporations only care about the bottom line so they’ll let their minions take the blame. The only real solution is to hurt them in the wallet enough that they have to play by the rules to make a profit.

          • grte@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            Not really. Put the C suite in prison and I’m sure the next crew will think twice. They can try and throw underlings under the bus but we don’t have to accept that. The buck stops at the top.

            • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Can’t put people into prison for things they didn’t do, and demonstrating RICO is a lot harder than it sounds. I guarantee you, you start going after their profits and making them take losses, the behavior stops immediately, and across the board.

              they’d just get another C-Suite.

              • grte@lemmy.ca
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                1 year ago

                But they did do something? They ran a company in an illegal fashion. If they didn’t act directly they were negligent. Either way, lock them up.

              • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                They always defend their ridiculous income by saying that it’s proportional to their level of responsibility? Then the board is responsible for everything that happens in the company unless they can pin point exactly who did what under whose guidance.

          • krolden@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            Send the whole corporation to prison since they have legal rights same as I do (but I can’t afford to enforce mine).

      • db2@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        They’ll just pass it along to the customers though, that would have to be made very illegal first… and even then they’d probably do it anyway and blame it on the tellers. In the sea of illegal things Wells Fargo has already done that wouldn’t even make a ripple.

        • xePBMg9@lemmynsfw.com
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          1 year ago

          They can pass whatever they want on to the customer; as long as they follow the rule of law. If they charge too much, their buissnes idea was unsound and will most likely be done better by a competitor.

    • SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I feel like they need to apply charges like conspiracy and fraud against the individuals responsible. When I worked in national security oriented roles, the standard response when being asked to break the law (eg reveal classified info) was to say “I could do that, but I look really bad in orange.”

      If the individuals being asked to commit violations and crimes were held individually responsible more often, people would be less likely to do it.

      White collar crime costs the economy far more than other kinds of crime, and that’s due to a lack of enforcement caused by misaligned priorities.

    • Overzeetop@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The obvious first step is revocation and personal barring for life every single person who participated in the communication from holding a SEC license. The second is jail time for anyone who did it willfully. The third is revocation of their corporation or, in the interest of stockholders who are about to become personally liable, a 50 year probationary period in which revocation of corporation is automatic should any other infraction come to light.

      • db2@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        But since the wolves are minding the hen house that’ll never happen… it’ll take French tactics.

      • Overzeetop@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Revocation of corporate status. A corporation is a status set out in US law. No corporate status, no legal protection for officers or shareholders. All liability falls personally and directly on the owners.

        • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, seriously, why do people forget this so easily? THE GOVERNMENT GRANTS SPECIAL PRIVILEGES TO CORPORATIONS. Any stipulations, limitations, or exceptions are absolutely fair game. Ideally, we grant corporate charters to promote commerce and benefit society. Nobody has a right to a corporate charter, so if a corporation is harming us, we should terminate it like the pregnancy of a Republican’s mistress.