General Motors settles criminal case over ignition switches

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By TOM HAYS, ERIC TUCKER and TOM KRISHER

NEW YORK (AP) — General Motors admitted it failed to disclose to the public a deadly problem with small-car ignition switches as part of a $900 million deal reached with federal authorities to avoid criminal charges, authorities announced Thursday.

The automaker will retain an independent monitor to review and assess its policies to ensure compliance with the agreement with the government, according to court papers released by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan.

The prosecutor planned a noon news conference Thursday to formally announce the deal. Court papers pertaining to it were signed Wednesday.

Besides the $900 million forfeiture and the monitor, the deal calls for two criminal charges to be dismissed if the company complies with terms of the agreement for three years. The $900 million must be paid by Sept. 24.

FULL story at link.


FILE - This April 1, 2014, file photo shows a key in the ignition switch of a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt in Alexandria, Va. Federal prosecutors have reached agreement with General Motors to resolve a criminal investigation into how the Detroit automaker broke the law by concealing a deadly problem with small-car ignition switches, multiple people briefed on the case said Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Molly Riley, File)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e1207eccc10c4f2a8ef550da95e121c0/gm-said-settle-criminal-case-over-ignition-switches

[pipoman]

1. Now we have a corporate person buying their way out of a criminal act....

Such a crockoshit...

[Orrex]

2. First and foremost we must protect the executives

They're the job creators, after all.

[CanSocDem]

3. Well....OK.

....snip.....

The company acknowledged that some of its employees knew about the problem for more than a decade, but no cars were recalled until early last year. GM hired former federal prosecutor Anton Valukas to investigate the matter, and he found no wrongdoing on the part of top executives. Instead, he blamed the problem on a bureaucratic corporate culture that hid problems and failed to take action.

Darn that pesky capitalism. CorporateAmerica , just out to make a buck, gets penalized because they place company profits over public safety. Is there no justice? No honour among thieves?


.

[valerief]

4. Okay, DOJ, that "we can prosecute individual people" thing. Go do it!

The problem caused crashes that killed at least 124 people and injured 275 more, according to lawyers in charge of a fund set up by GM to compensate victims.

From OP link.

[Attorney in Texas]

5. This is a shameful scandal and I'm disappointed that no one's going to jail over this fiasco

[bananas]

6. "killed at least 124 people and injured 275 more" nt

[christx30]

7. If an individual caused that kind of death

and destruction from an ongoing negligent act, they would spend the rest of their life in prison. But when it's a corporate person that does this, they just pay a fee (cost of doing business), and they get watched for a while.

But there is someone there that knew something ahead of time. Someone that gave the go ahead.

From Fight Club:
JACK (V.O.)

I'm a recall coordinator. My job is to apply the formula.

Take the number of vehicles in the field, (A), and multiply it by the probable rate of failure, (B), then multiply the result by the average out-of-court settlement, (C).

A * B * C = X

If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

[mitch96]

8. So let me get this thing straight

Big banks can tank the economy for big profits…. and pay a fee (the cost of doing business) and get off.
Big corporations can make a product that kills people and pay a fee (the cost of doing business) and get off.
Nobody went to jail, nobody arrested, nobody charged with the death of the 127 people who died and God knows how many people big pharma has killed..
But if you or I do anything like that… we get the chair or go to jail… Right???
Now the law says corporations are people… with immunity from the law… Am I messed up or what..

Love this bumper sticker I saw

"I'll Believe Corporations Are People When Texas Executes One"

m