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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Blankenship Trial Spotlights Patterns In Corporate Prosecutions

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Monday, October 12, 2015   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Coal baron Don Blankenship's high profile trial is coming at a time of anger against corporate wrongdoing, but analysts say that anger still faces entrenched forces that protect executives.

Russell Mokhiber, editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, says Blankenship's prosecution comes at a time when people still are frustrated that no bank executives went to jail after the 2008 financial crisis.

"People are upset, people are angry,” he states. “People in the coalfields demanded that Blankenship be prosecuted and he was. And now, you're seeing the same kind of pushback against Volkswagen, against General Motors, right across the board."

Mokhiber says top corporate executives still are rarely prosecuted. He points out they're typically removed from day-to-day operations where decisions to break the law happen.

Prosecutors portray Blankenship as a micromanager who set the policies that led to the 2010 disaster at Upper Big Branch that killed 29 miners.

Blankenship has argued that the accident was an act of God, and that he's being singled out for his political positions.

Mokhiber stresses corporations and their executives often get the best lawyers money can buy. And he says some prosecutors will go easy on the companies because they know they can get well-paid positions with defense firms after they leave the government.

Mokhiber says that can be a powerful motivator for a young government lawyer.

"And you're sitting across the table from lawyers a couple of years older, who've gone over to defend the corporations, and quadrupling their salaries," he maintains.

Mokhiber says you can see the anger at corporate wrongdoing in the press and in congressional hearings. But he says it's just half of what's playing out as a tug-of-war in the courts and conference rooms where legal decisions are made.

"It's a tumultuous time when it comes to corporate crime, and you're seeing a battle of people demanding justice against those who want to preserve the corporate status quo," he states.

Blankenship was the CEO of Richmond-based Massey Energy before the Upper Big Branch disaster. In 2011 Massey was taken over by Bristol, Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources.


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