> The whole point of white collar crime is that it is difficult to distinguish from negligence. And when the standard for prosecution essentially requires that the defense acts like a comic book villain --or at least plainly writes down their intent, rather than masking it-- it really isn't a surprise that the courts are unable to convict over criminal charges.
This analysis is spot-on. White collar crime is difficult to prosecute because people fuck up all the time and it's hard to distinguish between a run of the mill fuck up and malicious intent, especially because our usual go-to for inferring intent ("motive") is hard to rely on because in the context of billions of dollars flying around, there always seems like there was motive.
Hence the fine, though we're in agreement that it should be bigger, in order to make it more justifiable to spend resources on exercising more care.
This analysis is spot-on. White collar crime is difficult to prosecute because people fuck up all the time and it's hard to distinguish between a run of the mill fuck up and malicious intent, especially because our usual go-to for inferring intent ("motive") is hard to rely on because in the context of billions of dollars flying around, there always seems like there was motive.
Hence the fine, though we're in agreement that it should be bigger, in order to make it more justifiable to spend resources on exercising more care.