Is the U.S. legal system one to emulate – particularly in regard to white collar crime? Given the accusations against some of America’s leading bankers and financiers and cries from the public that the majority are getting away with grand theft, one might be surprised to find that some across the Atlantic think things are even worse over there.
For Portugal’s Jornal de Negocios, Jorge Brito Pereira writes in part:
“In the United States, financial crimes are punished with jarring violence. … The truth is that we [in Portugal] don’t know how to punish. We don’t know how to do it in the courts, in schools or in companies. This is in our soul and our blood; it is part of our culture and our being; we are inquisitors and promoters of redemption; we are strong with the weak and weak with the strong, and so we lose the equilibrium required to govern the application of justice.
By Jorge Brito Pereira
Translated By Brandi Miller
February 6, 2009
Portugal – Jornal de Negocios – Original Article (Portuguese)
In the United States, financial crimes are punished with jarring violence. Looking at just a few of the cases which in recent years have recieved most media attention, Bernard Ebbers , the former CEO of WorldCom, was sentenced to 25 years in prison; Andrew Fastow, the former CFO of Enron, was sentenced to ten years in prison (later reduced to six), and with him 14 other high-ranking officials from the company were sentenced; L. Dennis Kozlowski and Mark H. Swartz, former CEO and CFO of Tyco respectively, were sentenced to eight to 25 years in prison; John Rigas, founder of Adelphia Communications and his son Thimoty were sentenced to 17 and 12 years in prison respectively; the popular TV host Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison (and three months house arrest) for having lied about her motives for selling of 3928 shares of ImClone Systems, a company run by a friend, Sam Waksal, shortly before just a bit of bad news caused the stock price to fall. The list is endless.
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