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Hi,
President Biden promised that his Justice Department would crack down on white-collar criminals and corporate monopolies.1,2
But in fact, after Biden was elected, corporate prosecutions fell to the lowest level in nearly 30 years, and this Justice Department has brought even fewer cases against white-collar criminals than the Trump administration did.3
Now things could get even worse. The Justice Department just unveiled a new "Safe Harbor Policy" that gives a free pass to corporate wrongdoers involved in mergers and acquisitions — which will not only let corporate rule-breakers off the hook but directly incentivize even more corporate monopolies.
This should be a major controversy, but the mainstream news media has barely even noticed. So we're taking it to the streets: With your support, we're driving a hard-hitting mobile billboard around Justice Department headquarters this week, demanding that they finally crack down on corporate criminals.
The two worst corporate-caused crises of the 21st century — the pharmaceutical industry-driven opioid epidemic and the 2008 financial crisis — partly resulted from enforcement agencies failing to fight systemic criminal misconduct before it was too late. 4
You see, the larger corporations get, the more they can raise prices and lower the quality of their products and services, while consumers have no recourse. But the DOJ's new "Safe Harbor Policy" actually encourages MORE mergers.
The new rule is like a get-out-of-jail-free card for corporations that have broken the law, so long as the company is later acquired by another entity and misconduct is reported within a certain time period.
The policy will encourage harmful corporate consolidation and offer a path for corporate criminals to evade the consequences — all at the expense of consumers, workers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and the rule of law.
That's why Demand Progress Action is pressuring the Biden DOJ to reverse this new policy and ramp up its enforcement of white-collar corporate crime. And we're driving a mobile billboard around DOJ headquarters to ramp up public attention so this issue can no longer be ignored.
With gratitude for all that you do,
Tihi and the team at Demand Progress Action
Sources:
1. The White House, "FACT SHEET: Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy,"
July 09, 2021.
2. U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, "Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco Gives Keynote Address at ABA's 36th National Institute on White Collar Crime," October 28, 2021.
3. Public Citizen, "Corporate Prosecution Doldrums: Corporate Crime Prosecutions Remain Near Record Low in 2022," October 30, 2023.
4. Ibid.
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