The NBA just showed corporate wrist-slappers how it’s done.
asserted
it → show → slappers
The SEC, CFTC, OSHA, EPA, etc. should take some notes.
asserted
SEC → take → notes
The penalty handed to the Los Angeles Clippers is the best I’ve seen as a reporter covering companies that sometimes behave badly.
asserted
that → hand → companies
The Clippers will forfeit their next five first-round draft picks as penance for giving Kawhi Leonard “no-show” jobs, steered his way by team owner Steve Ballmer, to skirt the league’s salary cap.
asserted
Clippers → forfeit → cap
The $30 million fine that comes along is nothing — it’s 10 days’ worth of the dividends Ballmer clips from his Microsoft stake — but the draft picks will likely exile the team to irrelevance for years.
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picks → come → years
It’s a penalty box worthy of an architecture award.
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It → ’ → award
It’s justice enough to win the approval of Jesse Eisinger, the ProPublica journalist who wrote the book on regulatory spinelessness.
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who → ’ → spinelessness
“A very successful punishment,” he tells me, because it “gets to the core of why these billionaires buy sports teams.
asserted
billionaires → tell → teams
They’ve been losers since high school so they want to be cool, to be literal winners and have trophies.
asserted
they → want → trophies
The Clippers being terrible will make Ballmer less cool and guarantee a chorus of boos from the $2 billion stadium the team just opened, which is going to be a lot emptier for a while.
asserted
which → make → while
Corporate watchdogs should do more of this.
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watchdogs → do → this
What if, instead of paying $250 million after mishandling big stock trades, Morgan Stanley simply wasn’t allowed to do those trades for a while?
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Stanley → pay → while
They’d be reminded of their screw-up every time Goldman Sachs printed a winner.
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Sachs → remind → winner
A big tech company in trouble can’t recruit from Stanford or MIT for a few years.
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company → recruit → years
The Labor Department bans private-equity firms caught misbehaving from raising money from federal pension funds.
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Department → ban → funds
Telecoms that overcharge are excluded from spectrum auctions.
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that → overcharge → auctions
Media executives are banned from Sun Valley.
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executives → ban → Valley
The two standout pieces of corporate punishment over the past decade hit companies where it hurt.
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it → hit → companies
An asset cap forced Wells Fargo to turn away business after its fake-accounts scandal and it fell behind Citigroup in size.
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it → force → size
The Federal Aviation Administration limited Boeing’s production of 737s after repeated safety failures, and the Airbus A320 became the best-selling jet in aviation history.
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A320 → limit → history
We’re living in an age of creative enforcement from Washington.
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We → live → Washington
More of it should actually sting.
asserted
More → sting → it
“We have a scourge of elite impunity.
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We → have → impunity
For white-collar crime, that means putting more rich (white) guys in prison.
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that → mean → prison
Elites need to suffer accountability for their wrongdoing.
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Elites → need → wrongdoing
My argument in the white-collar context is fines don’t work.
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fines → work → context
It gets to the core of why these billionaires buy sports teams: They’ve been losers since high school so they want to be cool, be literal winners and have trophies.
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they → get → trophies
What bites here is the draft picks.
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bites → bite → ?
The thing that works about it is the status-stripping.
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that → work → it
The team is likely to lose a lot of games and Ballmer is deprived of the essence of being jock-adjacent.
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Ballmer → lose → essence
You cheat in the IPO business, you can’t do IPOs for five years.
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you → cheat → years
You get reminded of your punishment every day you come into work.
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you → remind → work
It’s not writing a check and forgetting about it.”
Notable
- Gillian Zucker, Clippers team president, was also penalized for her role as a witness whose report contradicted physical evidence, highlighting the broad scope of the NBA’s punishments following the investigation, The Athletic reported.
asserted
Athletic → write → investigation
The Aporia
