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Jan/Feb 2000 issue (#43)
The corporate watchdog publication Multinational Monitor (July/Aug '99) published a list of the top 100 corporate criminals of the 1990s, ranked in order of fines judged against them in court. Following is a synopsis of the top ten on the list, which was compiled by Russell Mokhiber.
1. F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. was fined $500 million for antitrust violations in May 1999 for leading a worldwide conspiracy to raise and fix prices for vitamins sold in the US and abroad.
2. Daiwa Bank Ltd. was fined $340 million in February 1996 for covering up massive securities trading losses and defrauding bank regulators.
3. BASF Aktiengesellschaft had to pay a $225 million crinimal fine as part of the same conspiracy as #1 criminal F. Hoffman La Roche.
4. SGL Carbon Aktiengesellschaft pled guilty to antitrust crimes and agreed to pay $135 million in May 1999 for conspiring to fix prices and allocate the volumes for graphite electrodes in the US and abroad.
5. Exxon Corporation and Exxon Shipping was assessed $125 million in March 1991 in the largest single environmental recovery for spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil from the Valdez tanker off the Alaskan shore.
6. UCAR International, Inc. was judged to pay $110 million in April 1998 in the same graphite price fixing scheme as #4. The scheme negatively affected steel makers and consumers of steel products.
7. Archer Daniels Midland, when it wasn't supporting NPR programs, paid a $100 million criminal antitrust fine for its conspiracy to fix prices and eliminate competition in worldwide markets for lysine and citric acid in October 1996.
8. (tie) Banker's Trust was fined $60 million in March 1999 for falsely enhancing the bank's financial performance by unlawfully recording $19 million in unclaimed customer funds as bank income.
8. (tie) Sears Bankruptcy Recovery Manage-ment Services pled guilty to bankruptcy fraud and paid a $60 million fine in February 1999. The company systematically led bankrupt debtors to believe that declaring bankruptcy did not relieve them from Sears credit card debts.
10. Haarman & Reimer Corp. in February 1997 agreed to pay $50 million for price fixing in the citric acid market (see #7). Citric acid is a common flavoring and preservative.
Subscriptions to Multinational Monitor are $25 to Essential Information, 1530 P St. NW, Wash D.C. 20005.