M. Gessen, in a New York Times Opinion piece last week (gift link):

For the first time in France, and possibly for the first time ever, anywhere, an entire corporation had been put on trial and found criminally liable for enabling terrorism.

The corporate defendant was “one of the world’s largest cement manufacturers, Lafarge,” and the men on trial were Bruno Lafont, the 69-year-old former chief executive, and Christian Herrault, the 75-year-old former deputy head of operations.

The court had concluded that between 2013 and 2014, the cement maker paid about $6.5 million to the Islamic State and other terrorist groups in Syria, to facilitate the company’s operations there. Lafarge — now owned by the Swiss conglomerate Holcim — will have to pay about $1.3 million in fines for the crime of financing terrorism and $5.3 million for violating international sanctions. In another case, Lafarge is facing charges of complicity in crimes against humanity. If that case goes to trial and Lafarge is again found guilty, a new chapter in the prosecution of war crimes may begin.

The fines are, of course, a mere “cost of doing business” for the company. The conviction of the two executives, who will be serving six and five years, respectively, is a game-changer.

I find it absurd that the American legal system has deemed that corporations are people, with all of the attendant rights, but few of the responsibilities or consequences. A “natural person” can be prosecuted, fined, and jailed—even executed in some especially regressive jurisdictions. A corporation faces only prosecution and fines, and corporate officers, not even that.

My hope is that the U.S. will someday follow in France’s footsteps. The first U.S.-based executive to be convicted for the illegal acts of their company will send reverberations across Wall Street and, perhaps, usher in a new day of corporate responsibility.