The chickenshit club
by Jesse Eisinger · first published 2017
68% recommend32% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Explains why the Justice Department and SEC settle for corporate fines instead of prosecuting executives, tracing it from Enron and Arthur Andersen on. Suits readers puzzled by weak penalties for white-collar crime.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Why were no bankers put in prison after the financial crisis of 2008? Why do CEOs seem to commit wrongdoing with impunity? The problem goes beyond banks deemed "Too Big to Fail" to almost every large corporation in America-- to pharmaceutical companies and auto manufacturers and beyond. The Chickenshit Club-- an inside reference to prosecutors too scared of failure and too daunted by legal impediments to do their jobs-- explains why. A character-driven narrative, the book tells the story from inside the Department of Justice. The complex and richly reported story spans the last decade and a h
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Excellent news for American society. “The Chickenshit Club” by Eisinger recently explained why the lack of criminal charges had emboldened white collar crime. Basically, individuals need to have the risk of criminal charges if they do something very egregious…
on “U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani” ↗This is a worthwhile book that might help clear up some of your bewilderment at why corporate crime cases so often turn out so unsatisfactorily. https://www.amazon.com/Chickenshit-Club-Department-Prosecute... My personal TL;DR from a couple of years ago if you don't have the time to read the book: - It's very hard for prosecutors to secure a criminal conviction even in the most blatant…
on “Nasa Says Metals Fraud Caused $700M Satellite Failure” ↗…concept of “willful blindness” that is currently experiencing a revival in academic legal circles and is forming the basis for an aggressive, take-no-prisoners approach to white-collar crime, look at “The Chickenshit Club” by Jesse Eisinger. The Cycles of American History https://www.amazon.com/dp/0395957931/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_0ea9... Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0688119123/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kfa9...…
on “Comcast Tries to Derail Fort Collins Community Broadband” ↗…Prosecutors could have, and in previous financial crises did, prosecute top executives under the laws against, for example, wire fraud. They didn't this time for reasons outlined in the excellent book: Chickenshit Club (https://www.amazon.com/Chickenshit-Club-Department-Prosecute...)
on “Why Aren’t Any Bankers in Prison for Causing the Financial Crisis? (2016)” ↗…regulation/compliance) instead of jail time for the bad actors. of course, if the crime is committed by a penny ante fraudster, then the DOJ is not afraid to put them in jail. https://www.amazon.com/Chickenshit-Club-Justice-Department-C...
on “HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece ” ↗There is a good book on this subject that just came out: The Chickenshit Club by Jesse Eisinger (https://www.amazon.ca/Chickenshit-Club-Department-Prosecute-...). It's about the culture inside the SEC and Justice Department and their motivations over the last thirty or so years.
on “The SEC has charged two initial coin offerings with defrauding investors” ↗…interested in learning about the United States government moving from prosecuting white-collar criminals to settling, the difference between the SEC and Justice Department misses the point. The book The Chickenshit Club https://www.amazon.com/Chickenshit-Club-Department-Prosecute... by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist tells a more thorough and comprehensive, though infuriating and tragic, story.
on “Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud” ↗…at explaining why. I don't think we'll see a CEO behind bars for anything white-collar in our generation. Sadly. Judges and prosecutors are political animals too, you know. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Chickenshit-Club-Department-Prosecute...
on “Let's Stop Giving Retailers a Free Pass on Data Breaches” ↗The Chickenshit Club by Jesse Eisinger is a great teardown of gov vs corporations legal action
on “Ask HN: Which book helped you understand the world?” ↗a good book to read about this lack of prosecution is called "the chickenshit club" by Jesse Eisinger. In it the author explores prosecution paralysis brought on by a fear of destabilizing markets, and that this fear ultimately led to fines being preferred over jailtime. it also…
on “Why didn’t any Wall Street CEOs go to jail after the financial crisis? (2019)” ↗For a deep drive, read The Chickenshit Club: https://www.amazon.com/Chickenshit-Club-Department-Prosecute...
on “SBF Arrested by Bahamian Authorities” ↗…merely paying a fine. We need to resume prosecuting the individuals who commit white collar crimes. Otherwise, getting caught committing crime just gets budgeted into the business plan. The book The Chickenshit Club does a good job highlighting this (fairly recent) problem with US justice. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/books/review/the-chickens... "America’s Top Prosecutors Used to Go After Top Executives. What…
on “A New Look Inside Theranos’ Dysfunctional Corporate Culture” ↗Second the recommendation for Chickenshit Club (also helps interpret the speed and proceedings of other DOJ cases in play). Equifax is largely embedded in our business/credit infrastructure and there would be collateral consequences for all of the…
on “U.S. senators ask consumer watchdog head for details on Equifax probe” ↗A lot of people here asking "Why is the fine so low, how does this happen!" I recommend reading "The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives"[0] which is obviously a bit broader than just fines, but does touch on the history and current state of things with respect to corporate malfeasance.…
on “TurboTax to pay $141M in agreement reached by all 50 states” ↗…easily read more than 3000 books if you retire at 65 and live to be 90+. Also there are great non-fiction books by journalists that are not about journalism, a few that come to mind are Bad Blood, The Chickenshit Club, Angler, All The President's Men, books by Matt Taibbi, etc.
on “Rules for Choosing Nonfiction Books” ↗