When it Comes to Criminal Prosecution, Silicon Valley Execs Get a Pass
Prosecutions of white-collar crimes are down, and in Silicon Valley, Big Tech is reaping the rewards as lawmakers look the other way.
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The spectacle of the ongoing trial of Elizabeth Holmes, the most prominent executive to face criminal fraud charges in the history of Silicon Valley, obscures the reality that criminal prosecutions in Silicon Valley are a rarity and that even a guilty verdict against Holmes is unlikely to change that, reports the New York Times. Federal prosecutors in Northern California took on only 57 white-collar crime cases in the 2020 fiscal year, down from 94 in 2019, according to researchers. Although 2021 is likely to show a rebound, the total will still be far below the heyday of prosecutorial action in 1995, when 350 cases were brought.
Nationally, there has been a long-term trend away from white-collar prosecutions, one possible explanation being that there is currently less crime in Silicon due to the ongoing tech boom that has yielded billions for companies too rich to seek their wealth illegally. However, critics argue that such an optimistic perspective is due, in part, to the special status given Big Tech as a safer, friendlier and more creative industry compared to the historically nefarious characterizations of Big Oil or Wall Street. Even the media has largely focused on the impact that the companies have on society rather than any crimes that have been committed. “A decline in prosecutions should not be interpreted as less crime, but harder-to-prosecute cases,” said Margaret O’Mara, a historian of Silicon Valley. And prosecutors, often tied up in cases that have nothing to do with tech, including child pornography and firearms trafficking, just aren’t looking for them.
