Corporate veil pierced: Peanut CEO gets 28 years in contamination case

[Winehole23]

Former peanut company executive Stewart Parnell was hit with a virtual life prison term Monday for his 2014 conviction on crimes related to a salmonella outbreak blamed for killing nine and sickening hundreds.


A federal judge in Georgia sentenced the 61-year-old former head of Peanut Corporation of America to 28 years behind bars, imposing potentially the toughest punishment in U.S. history for a producer in a food-borne illness case.
U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands also sentenced the former executive's brother, Michael Parnell, 56, to serve a 20-year prison term. The relative and co-defendant was a broker who provided food manufacturing giant Kellogg's with peanut paste from his brother's company.


Mary Wilkerson, 41, a former quality control manager at the now-defunct peanut firm, drew a five-year prison term for her conviction on obstruction in the tragedy.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...cing/72549166/

[RandomGuy]

Saw that.

Defense attorney Ken Hodges characterized the potential life sentence for Stewart Parnell as "absurd" during a July telephone interview with USA TODAY. He said the recommendation by the U.S. Probation Office was based on speculative losses, and questioned whether medical evidence had substantiated the victim count.

"The truth of the matter is Stewart Parnell ate that peanut butter; he fed it to his children and fed it to his grandchildren," Hodges said in the interview. "He never intended to harm anyone."

Greed, pure and simple.

Federal investigators found a leaky roof, roaches and evidence of rodents at the plant, all ingredients for brewing salmonella. They also uncovered emails and records showing food confirmed by lab tests to contain salmonella was shipped to customers anyway. Other batches were never tested at all, but got shipped with fake lab records saying salmonella screenings were negative.

Emails prosecutors presented at trial showed that Parnell once directed employees to "turn them loose" after samples of peanuts tested positive for salmonella and then were cleared in another test. Several months before the outbreak, when a final lab test found salmonella, Parnell expressed concern to a Georgia plant manager, writing in an Oct. 6, 2008, email that the delay "is costing us huge $$$$$."

But hey, we don't need to gubmint interference in business. Jobs are too important to have government regulations threaten... right?

[TeyshaBlue]

lol begging the straw question.

Thanks for the partisan spin.

[Blake]

Always good to see someone with money go to jail when they've committed a crime. Gives me a bit of hope for our justice system.

[TeyshaBlue]

Always good to see someone with money go to jail when they've committed a crime. Gives me a bit of hope for our justice system.

[Blake]

Before the ruling:

The family of a former peanut executive is asking a federal judge to show mercy when sentencing him for his role in a deadly salmonella outbreak.

Former Peanut Corporation of American owner Stewart Parnell buried his face in his hand Monday as his daughter told a federal judge "my dad's heart is genuine."

The daughter, Grey Adams, said her father and the rest of their family remain "profoundly sorry" for the outbreak in 2008 and 2009, which was blamed for nine deaths and 714 illnesses.Parnell faces up to 803 years in prison. He was convicted a year ago of knowingly shipping contaminated peanut butter and faking results of lab tests.Experts say Parnell and two co-defendants were the first U.S. food processors to stand trial in a food-poisoning case.

Three deaths linked to the outbreak occurred in Minnesota, two in Ohio, two in Virginia, one in Idaho and one in North Carolina.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/82307...ce-peanut-exec

this family

[DMX7]

If the finance industry's corporate veil is ever materially pierced... then that will be worth taking note of.

[hater]

If the finance industry's corporate veil is ever materially pierced... then that will be worth taking note of.

You will almost never ever see a banker, oiler or military advisor go to jail for commuting crimes.

[boutons_deux]

Why do we need regulations that the VRWC/BigCorp is paying Repugs and teabaggers so well to defund, remove, block?

"Just trust us", BigGovt, we're honorable people, we don't cheat, steal, defraud, pollute, maim, kill, Just Trust Us with no regulations.

[ducks]

so one person does bad and now we spend millions of money on laws and millions of money enforcing them
RIGHT BOUTONS?

[boutons_deux]

so one person does bad and now we spend millions of money on laws and millions of money enforcing them
RIGHT BOUTONS?

In the case of BigFinance, it's the entire industry that is rotten.

you're probably ok with militarized police harassing, fleecing, brutalizing, executing often innocent taxpayers, but don't want any policing of BigCrop, right, ducks?

[101A]

"Corporate" veil - in the looses sense. PCA had a TOTAL of 90 employees. Small business; not even medium sized.

Sure, CAN work: when people die, and the fish is a "relative" minnow. This wasn't "Big Agg" - absolutely not Big Finance. Regulations don't work as designed (er as advertised, I think they work exactly as designed)...

What works is people kicking because of food poisoning, and following the (relatively) short string to the CEO BOOGEYMAN!!! Punish the crap out of him, people get their taste for blood sated - while the real big bads keep sticking it to us, and useful idiots continue to work hard to concentrate even MORE power in the North East - New York or Washington.

Tomato, Tomata....

[boutons_deux]

work hard to concentrate even MORE power in the North East - New York or Washington.

North East? the voter-suppressed, gerrymandered North East blue states?

[baseline bum]

"Corporate" veil - in the looses sense. PCA had a TOTAL of 90 employees. Small business; not even medium sized.

Sure, CAN work: when people die, and the fish is a "relative" minnow. This wasn't "Big Agg" - absolutely not Big Finance. Regulations don't work as designed (er as advertised, I think they work exactly as designed)...

What works is people kicking because of food poisoning, and following the (relatively) short string to the CEO BOOGEYMAN!!! Punish the crap out of him, people get their taste for blood sated - while the real big bads keep sticking it to us, and useful idiots continue to work hard to concentrate even MORE power in the North East - New York or Washington.

Tomato, Tomata....

Are you really crying for a CEO who directed his company to knowingly ship salmonella infested food and cover it up by faking test results? Holy ing .

[TheMrPeanut]

Just another nut bag going down.

[Wild Cobra]

Are you really crying for a CEO who directed his company to knowingly ship salmonella infested food and cover it up by faking test results? Holy ing .

101A...

You know how rarely I agree with Baseline...

This is one of those times.

[ElNono]

This, the VW case, the GM case and many others, that we know of or not, should be a reminder that, yes, some companies will do anything, ANYTHING, for the almighty buck.

We were discussing the distinction between capitalism and unfettered capitalism in another thread, and I think these are great cases about the latter.

We can probably argue ad nauseum about how much regulation is enough regulation, but there's no doubt that at the very least some is needed.

[Wild Cobra]

This, the VW case, the GM case and many others, that we know of or not, should be a reminder that, yes, some companies will do anything, ANYTHING, for the almighty buck.

We were discussing the distinction between capitalism and unfettered capitalism in another thread, and I think these are great cases about the latter.

We can probably argue ad nauseum about how much regulation is enough regulation, but there's no doubt that at the very least some is needed.

I'm quite OK with emission standards. I'm not OK with the latest tightening of fleet mileage standards.

[boutons_deux]

Audi's R&D boss, Porsche engine chief to quit: Bild

Two of Volkswagen group's highest-ranking engineers will be forced to quit as the German carmaker is pushing steps to clear up the diesel emissions scandal, Bild reported on Thursday, citing unnamed company sources.


Audi's R&D boss Ulrich Hackenberg, a long-time VW brand executive and

Porsche's engine chief Wolfgang Hatz

will be dismissed at a meeting of the supervisory board on Friday,

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0RO19S20150924