The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives—Jesse Eisinger

After the financial crisis in 2008, many asked why bank executives were not prosecuted for their involvement. CEOs of pharmaceutical companies, auto manufacturers, and other industries routinely face charges for money laundering, embezzlement, corporate fraud, and more. According to Jesse Eisinger, these corporate criminals rarely see jail time in America. Why?

The Chickenshit Club—a reference to James Comey’s term for prosecutors too timid to take on corporate wrongdoing—seeks to answer this question. A character-driven narrative, the book tells the story from inside the Department of Justice. Eisinger’s complex story spans the last decade and a half of prosecutorial misfires, corporate lobbying, trial losses, and culture shifts that have compromised the government’s ability to prosecute top corporate executives.

In this lecture, Eisinger chronicles the Justice Department’s approach to corporate crime from the 1970s to present day. A Q&A will follow.











When: Wed., Nov. 29, 2017 at 6:30 pm
Where: New York Public Library—Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
476 Fifth Ave. (42nd St. Entrance)
212-340-0863
Price: Free
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After the financial crisis in 2008, many asked why bank executives were not prosecuted for their involvement. CEOs of pharmaceutical companies, auto manufacturers, and other industries routinely face charges for money laundering, embezzlement, corporate fraud, and more. According to Jesse Eisinger, these corporate criminals rarely see jail time in America. Why?

The Chickenshit Club—a reference to James Comey’s term for prosecutors too timid to take on corporate wrongdoing—seeks to answer this question. A character-driven narrative, the book tells the story from inside the Department of Justice. Eisinger’s complex story spans the last decade and a half of prosecutorial misfires, corporate lobbying, trial losses, and culture shifts that have compromised the government’s ability to prosecute top corporate executives.

In this lecture, Eisinger chronicles the Justice Department’s approach to corporate crime from the 1970s to present day. A Q&A will follow.

Buy tickets/get more info now