Here’s what it means when a company like Boeing faces criminal charges

Criminal charges against a corporation, like the ones the Justice Department is considering bringing against Boeing, would be a serious blow, worsening the company’s already precarious financial situation and further damaging its battered reputation. But it wouldn’t necessarily result in past or current executives facing prison time.

Criminal charges against a corporation, like the ones the Justice Department is considering bringing against Boeing, would be a serious blow, worsening the company’s already precarious financial situation and further damaging its battered reputation. But it wouldn’t necessarily result in past or current executives facing prison time. While criminal charges against corporations are fairly common, the overwhelming majority are against small, closely-held companies. They aren’t brought nearly as often against publicly-traded companies, let alone those in the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s index of the nation’s 30 most important companies. And despite the fact that almost all illegal actions on behalf of a company are committed by individuals, not the company itself, it’s rare for top executives - especially at larger companies - to face personal punishment. “You don’t have to convict that person,” said Jennifer Arlen, law professor and director of the program on corporate compliance and enforcement at New York University. “Sometimes you don’t need to name them.” At a smaller, closely held company where the owner is the only employee who would face criminal charges, the owner might be more willing to have the company take the hit. That’s even if it means going out of business due to an unaffordable fine, rather than to charges themselves, Arlen said. But at a major public company with thousands of employees, those top executives making decisions might agree to a settlement that leads to criminal charges for lower level individuals. But they’re unlikely to reach a settlement in which they face criminal prosecution themselves. But even without any individuals facing prison time, criminal charges have serious enough implications that no publicly traded company wants to have that on its record, Arlen said.