Effective Compliance Means Imposing Individual Liability

Authors

Reuben A. Guttman

Abstract

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said it in a memo dated September 9, 2015, and her successor, Rod Rosenstein, said it in remarks dated October 6, 2017: corporations act through individuals, and compliance enforcement must necessarily account for holding individuals liable for the wrongs they orchestrate under cover of the corporate umbrella. The logic is reasonable and necessary. We blame corporations for catastrophic environmental events, misbranded drugs that cause injury, and financial products that destroy the life savings of those who have toiled for a living; yet at the helm of the corporations'guiding their path of impropriety'are people, many of whom who have benefited handsomely from the corporate misconduct that they have captained. Unfortunately, in comparison to the guilty pleas that are taken by corporations, which cannot be put behind bars, prosecutors'both criminal and civil'barely scratch the surface when it comes to pursuing the individual human culprits.

Recommended Citation

Reuben A. Guttman, Effective Compliance Means Imposing Individual Liability, 5 Emory Corp. Governance & Accountability Rev. 77 (2018).
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/ecgar/vol5/iss2/2