December 2025 Archives

The 2025 Corporate Rap Sheet

The regulatory enforcement system is one of the many things the second Trump Administration has thrown into chaos. The DOGE assault decimated staffing at many agencies. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been all but dismantled. Regulators such as the Environmental Protection Agency are abandoning key parts of their mission. Independent agencies are losing their independence as Trump asserts a right to fire commissioners for no good reason. The Securities and Exchange Commission is dismissing investigations initiated under Biden in a manner that suggests cronyism. Convicted corporate criminals favored by Trump are receiving unjustified pardons.

At the same time, agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, now headed by MAGA zealots, are using their powers to pressure or punish companies perceived to be enemies of the administration. The Justice Department, at the behest of Trump, is extracting substantial monetary settlements from universities facing dubious allegations that they tolerated anti-Semitism.

The news is not all bad. Portions of the federal regulatory and prosecutorial system continue to operate in a fairly normal manner. For example, False Claims Act cases involving federal contractor abuses are getting resolved on a regular basis.

Even more encouraging is the fact that state and local enforcement remain strong in much of the country, while private litigation in the form of class action lawsuits remains robust. Below are some of the key cases of the year collected for our Violation Tracker database, as well as some major foreign cases collected for Violation Tracker Global.

Amazon’s Cancellation Policies. The FTC has not been solely occupied with ideological warfare. In September the agency ordered Amazon to pay a $1 billion penalty and provide $1.5 billion in refunds to customers who had difficulty cancelling their Prime subscriptions.

Discover Bank’s Credit Card Practices. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a bank regulator not usually associated with major enforcement actions, ordered Discover Bank, now owned by Capital One, to pay a $150 million penalty and $1.2 billion in restitution to millions of merchants. Discover collected improperly high interchange fees by misclassifying consumer credit cards as commercial.

Credit Suisse and Tax Evasion. Credit Suisse, now owned by UBS, pleaded guilty, entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department for other charges, and was fined $510 million for maintaining accounts in Singapore on behalf of U.S. taxpayers who were using those accounts to evade U.S. taxes and reporting requirements.

Walgreen’s Invalid Opioid Prescriptions. In one of the year’s most significant False Claims Act cases, which also involved alleged violations of the Controlled Substances Act, Walgreens Boots Alliance reached a $300 million settlement with the DOJ to resolve allegations that it illegally filled millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances and then sought payment for many of those invalid prescriptions from Medicare and other federal health care programs.

Hino Motors and Emissions Cheating. The biggest environmental case of the year was announced in January while Joe Biden was still in office. Hino Motors, a subsidiary of Toyota, paid criminal and civil penalties totaling $1.6 billion to resolve federal and California state allegations that the company submitted fraudulent emissions testing data for diesel engines imported into the United States.

Kimberly-Clark and Fraudulent Testing. Kimberly-Clark paid over $40 million in fines and compensation to resolve federal allegations that it conducted fraudulent testing on surgical gowns marketed as providing the highest level of protection against fluid and viruses.

Turning now to matters handled by state attorneys general and state regulatory agencies, there were more than 30 such cases which resulted in a penalty of $50 million or more. For example:

DuPont et al. and PFAS. DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva, all of which emerged from the old E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co., together agreed to pay $2.6 billion to remedy long-standing contamination stemming from PFAS originating from four industrial sites in New Jersey.

Google and Privacy. The Texas Attorney General announced that Google would pay $1.4 billion to resolve allegations it unlawfully tracked and collected users’ private data regarding geolocation, incognito searches, and biometric data.

UnitedHealth Group and Unnecessary Insurance. HealthMarkets Inc., a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, was ordered to pay $165 million in penalties and restitution in a case in which the Massachusetts Attorney General accused the company of misleading consumers into buying unnecessary health insurance products.

As for private litigation, more than 30 class action lawsuits with settlement amounts in excess of $50 million received final court approval this year. They include:

Blue Cross Blue Shield Anti-Competitive Practices. Blue Cross Blue Shield Association agreed to pay $2.8 billion to settle litigation brought by medical providers alleging that BCBS policies prevented its members from competing against each other.

Wage-Fixing. Tyson Foods paid $115 million and Perdue Farms paid $60 million to resolve allegations that they participated in a conspiracy among poultry companies to keep wage levels low.

Apple and Privacy. Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle litigation alleging its Siri voice-activated software violated the privacy of users by eavesdropping on conversations.

The largest penalty outside the U.S. documented in Violation Tracker Global this year was the $3.4 billion fine imposed on Google by the European Commission for distorting competition in the advertising technology industry. The EC also brought large fines against Apple ($575 million) and Meta Platforms ($230 million).

Major penalties were seen in the area of privacy. The Irish Data Protection Commission fined TikTok $599 million, while the French privacy agency CNIL fined Google $378 million and e-commerce giant SHEIN Group $174 million.

The biggest environmental case outside the U.S. was a $140 million penalty against Thames Water in the UK for serious wastewater violations.

The main conclusion from all these cases is that misconduct on the part of large corporations remains pervasive around the world. In the United States, the future of regulatory enforcement at the federal level is uncertain, yet state and local regulators, along with plaintiffs’ lawyers, seek to fill the gap.

SCOTUS-Style Deregulation

In another example of how the conservative majority on the Supreme Court has become all too willing to throw out well-established law, the rightwing Justices strongly signaled they are ready to overturn a 90-year-old precedent that protects members of independent government agencies from being fired for no good reason by the president.

The case focuses on Donald Trump’s capricious removal of a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission, but the eventual ruling will likely have significant consequences for many other independent bodies.

It is worth keeping in mind that many of these bodies are responsible for oversight of business activities Allowing a president like Trump to remove commission members without good cause will allow him to fill the bodies with individuals who are loyal to him and hostile to the mission of the agency. It amounts to backdoor deregulation.

Here are some of the key business regulators that would be affected.

Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC is the main agency responsible for enforcing laws against financial market manipulation. Violation Tracker documents more than 3,000 cases against companies brought by the agency since 2000, with total penalties of more than $45 billion. The agency has fined JPMorgan Chase 30 times and collected over $2 billion in penalties.

Federal Trade Commission. The FTC, with responsibilities relating to consumer protection and antitrust, has collected over $18 billion from corporations. Among the biggest cases are the $5 billion penalty paid by Facebook for violating a 2012 FTC order by deceiving users about their ability to control the privacy of their personal information; a $4 billion penalty paid by Volkswagen as part of the emissions cheating scandal; and the $2.5 billion penalty paid by Amazon for making it difficult for consumers to cancel their Prime subscriptions.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The CFTC, which regulates derivatives markets, has collected $32 billion in penalties in 830 cases against companies. The biggest cases include a $12.7 billion fraud judgement against FTX Trading Ltd. and Alameda Research and a $2.7 billion penalty against Binance Holdings.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Before it was all but demolished by the Trump Administration this year, the CFPB collected nearly $18 billion in penalties against financial fraudsters. Wells Fargo paid over $4 billion in penalties in its bogus accounts scandal. Just about every other large bank was fined for a variety of harms perpetrated against their customers.

Others include the Consumer Products Safety Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board.

Donald Trump has not waited for a green light from the Supreme Court to initiate his attack on these regulatory agencies. Unlike traditional pro-business conservatives, Trump is not interested in simply weakening these bodies to benefit corporations. He is also weaponizing some of them to carry out his ideological agenda.

Ardent MAGA loyalists appointed to head bodies such as the FTC and the Federal Communications Commission are using their authority to put pressure on Trump’s foes and promote Trump’s pet issues. A ruling by the Supreme Court affirming the president’s absolute control over the agencies will serve to legitimize Trump’s hijacking of the bodies.

In arguing the administration’s case before the Court, Solicitor General claimed that giving the president absolute control over the agencies will make them “more accountable.”

The truth, of course, is the exact opposite. The conversion of independent agencies into pawns of a ruthless president will derail their public interest mission, much to the delight of rogue corporations everywhere.

Can Federal Corporate Investments Be Used for Good?

Donald Trump takes pleasure in getting institutions of all kinds to bend to his will. That includes major corporations. In a move that contradicts the usual deference the public sector in the U.S. shows to big business, Trump has forced a group of large companies to allow the federal government to acquire significant ownership stakes.

These investments are being justified in the name of national security. The Administration is expected to use its holdings to influence the operating and financial decisions of the companies, which operate in areas such as rare earth minerals, semiconductors, steel, and nuclear energy.

It remains to be seen exactly what that influence looks like, but the willingness of Trump to press the private sector to serve his idea of the national interest raises the question of whether he could also get the companies to better serve the public interest.

The companies in the federal portfolio includes some with a significant record of misconduct. Take U.S. Steel, which received approval to be acquired by Japan’s Nippon Steel only after the parties agreed to grant the administration a so-called golden share, giving it extensive power over the company’s policies.

As shown in Violation Tracker, U.S. Steel has racked up over $300 million in fines and settlements since 2000, including $250 million for environmental offenses and $80 million for competition-related offenses. The biggest portions of these came from a 2020 settlement with the Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County Health Department regarding air pollution violations and a 2014 class action suit regarding steel price-fixing.

Or take Intel, which Trump pressured to sell a 10 percent stake to the administration for about $9 billion. Intel has paid out about $112 million in penalties, most of which came from a 2015 settlement of private litigation alleging it conspired with other tech companies not to hire each other’s employees, thus suppressing salary levels. The company also paid $5 million to settle a suit accusing it of denying overtime pay and failing to provide meal and rest breaks.

Then there is Westinghouse Electric, which was pressed to enter into a partnership with the administration to build new nuclear power plants. In exchange for arranging financing and assisting with permits, the federal government would eventually receive a share of profits and would obtain a significant equity stake if Westinghouse, which is now majority-owned by Brookfield Corporation, is spun off.

Westinghouse Electric has received more than $5 million in penalties, including cases involving unfair labor practices, environmental offenses, workplace safety violations, and nuclear safety infractions.

The willingness of Trump to pressure corporations on decisions relating to investment raises the question of whether he would also use his leverage to address these types of misconduct. That is probably unlikely when it comes to environmental offenses, given his tendency to demonize the EPA. But what about practices such as wage theft and workplace safety deficiencies? Trump, after all, likes to portray himself as pro-worker.

There might also be some appeal in attacking price-fixing if it helps Trump given the impression he is addressing the affordability crisis. He has already made noises about cracking down on price-fixing in the beef industry.

Whatever Trump ends up doing, any steps he takes to use federal investments to change corporate behavior would serve as a precedent that a more enlightened president could put to better use.