A senior U.S. Justice Department official defended the use of settlements that let companies avoid pleading guilty after senators questioned whether prosecutors have been too soft on corporate crime, including by not charging the Sackler family members who own Purdue Pharma, the Wall Street Journal reported. Settlement agreements known as deferred prosecution agreements and nonprosecution agreements, which stop short of requiring corporate guilty pleas, don’t let businesses off the hook, Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri, who heads the department’s criminal division, said Tuesday at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. “Those are really serious agreements that are highly negotiated,” she said. “They require forward-looking change by a company. They’re not a pass.” Senators from both parties raised concerns about the Justice Department’s efforts to crack down on corporate crime. The lawmakers focused on the use of the settlement agreements along with decisions in some instances to not prosecute executives. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the committee chairman, questioned the Justice Department’s decision not to bring criminal charges against members of the Sackler family in connection with a 2020 criminal resolution involving Purdue Pharma. Purdue pleaded guilty to charges related to its efforts to push sales of the opioid painkiller OxyContin, but Sackler family members weren’t charged. “Corporate executives have little incentive to change their criminal conduct without fear of real consequences for their actions,” Durbin said. “Right now, they’re not worried about much more than a measly fine, a rounding error compared to the enormous profits like the Sacklers’.’” (Subscription required.)
