Trump makes history by pardoning a corporation
Trump makes history by pardoning a corporation
Summary:
In what may be a first in American history, President Trump just expanded the presidential pardon power to include corporations.
Corporations are artificial legal fictions designed to maximize shareholder wealth. Nonetheless, they can theoretically commit crimes and be indicted for them. According to a 1999 memorandum from the Justice Department, the “important public benefits” of prosecuting corporations include “deterrence on a massive scale,” particularly for “crimes that carry with them a substantial risk of public harm,” such as “financial frauds.”
Such public benefits now fall prey to the whims of the president with his pardon of a cryptocurrency company that smacks of political corruption.
On Friday, Trump issued full and unconditional pardons to four individuals and a related cryptocurrency exchange, BitMEX.
BitMEX solicits and takes orders for trades in derivatives tied to the value of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. Last summer, BitMEX entered a guilty plea in a Manhattan federal court for violating the Bank Secrecy Act for having operated without a legitimate anti-money laundering program. Prior to August 2020, customers could register to trade with BitMEX anonymously, providing only verified email addresses. The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Opinion newsletter
On Jan. 15, 2025, BitMEX was criminally fined $100 million in connection with its guilty plea, which was on top of $130 million in civil penalties previously imposed by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. At sentencing, the judge noted that BitMEX, which is incorporated in the Seychelles, had claimed not to operate in the U.S. for several years even though U.S. customers comprised a large share of its business.
OMG, for BitMEX of all things?? I expected at least a fossil fuel company of some sort.
Easier to launder money and have illicit money activities through crypto than fossil fuels
He makes a lot of history, none of it good.
I'm hoping he'll make a tiny bit of good history when he beefs it.
If corporations can receive pardons, then corporations should be able to receive the death penalty.
They can.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_death_penalty
Personally I prefer the avenue where all their IP is copylefted. Really, its a great way to spur innovation.
I hope one day we do this to all for profit companies. Imagine all for profit companies IP becoming open source, and only allowing nonprofits to form to replace them. It would be a huge Renaissance and economic success
Nope sorry, corporations can only be 'people' legally if it endows all of the benefits but none of the risks.
I'm told this is a cornerstone of capitalism.
Reminds me of this quote from Ambrose Bierce from the Devil's Dictionary:
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
- https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Devil's_Dictionary/C
- https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce
There's a lot of good ones in this book.
The grift is real, in plain sight - and the MAGAts still think he cares about them 🤣
They still think he's going to hunt down and stop all the Democrat run baby sex trafficking pizza kitchens.
So Trump starts mining company for Bitcoin as they announced. Then once they have a decent amount they start investing all the gold from Fort Knox into Bitcoin as previously stated by the white House to inflate prices. Then uses the money for illegal bribes with anonymous accounts? Something like that I assume
April Fools! Right? RIGHT? It's an April Fools joke isn't it?
Aww fuk.
Corporations, by contrast, cannot go to jail and or be physically executed
Ok so technically we can't physically execute a corporation, but we could get pretty close if we rounded up the board and c-suite.
It's worth a try, let's do it.
And major shareholders.
I'm 100% sure that no money went to Trump and this is purely his goodwill.
Because Trump is definitely the guy that would support a foreign company that supposedly doesn't operate in the USA
The longer this goes on, the more I think about Flying Squid, and think he was right to gtfo of dodge
Sadly, most folks aren't in a position to gtfo of dodge, as much as we would like to.
Most folks aren't willing* to gtfo of dodge.
Seriously, I've had this conversation on Lemmy so many times. Every so often someone has a disability or is broke poor with no degree, but the other times people say things like "family".
You don't think FlyingSquid had a family? I've immigrated twice. You think I don't have a family?
Most people who want to go can go. But most people don't actually want to go.
I am (sorta - it would still take a tremendous amount of effort), but I also have dreams I want to chase here that just aren't possible elsewhere. It's a real shitty catch-22.
Ah did they poof? Wondered why I hadn't seen them around recently.
I believe flyingsquid moved to Britain? I'm trying to remember. I think they are still busy getting readjusted to life across the pond, and hopefully they'll return to being active on Lemmy soon
Is that what happened?
I figured he'd still come back to post. Ive been afraid something worse happened.
He probably just swapping handles after getting too much recognition. Or hes that one guy who fled to canada lol
We are truly in the second Gilded Age.
More like the gelded age.
Jaded age
More crypto scam horseshit
They don’t face any consequences anyway…so they’re being pardoned from the consequences they don’t actually face
My first reaction was "is that even legal?"
And then my second reaction was it doesn't really matter with Trump there:
All this, and Biden wasn’t allowed to forgive our student loans…
Too soon.
April's fools!
Right? Right?....
Wait, so for example, this company had to pay $230 million in fines. Suppose that they did a $20 million "donation" to the president (which, being a crypto exchange, could be done in untraceable Monero). Then they get pardoned even if they aren't incorporated in the States and they claimed to not operate at all in the USA. When is the last time that you heard Trump caring this much about foreign companies who pay $0 in American taxes? Usually he is like "fuck them fuck that and slap additional tariffs on them"
Like that Nikola guy who sent Trump a $2 million "donation" and then by pure coincidence and sheer luck got pardoned.
Guess we know who will be running his grift programs from now on...
This is still the beginning, you ain't seen nothing yet. The rule of law no longer exists in the US. This has such deep implications, you can barely fathom them.
Nah, don’t be such a doomer.
About right for April Fools.
Subtract this amount from the DOGE "savings"
Is this another terrible consequence downwind of Citizens United?
Yes
The article argues against it, but technically pardoning a corporation makes sense. The corporation as an entity exists to allow people to take more risk and not have the consequences ruin them personally. This is literally what they teach you in business law.
So sure, it's stupid and BitMEX is obviously guilty, but from a legal perspective, pardoning a corporation makes sense
"No it's ok guys, corporations are supposed to shield people from consequences. So it's ok."
Yeah, I'm sure this explanation will renew people's faith in the legal system.
Bullshit.
lolwut?
America is no longer a country. Non MAGAts should leave the country and seek refuge in countries that aren’t run by fascist dictatorships.
Hey if a corporation can be pardoned does that mean a corporation can be charged with crimes such as manslaughter?