Chinese suppliers did this to a mining company in Australia. Put fucking asbestos brakes on the ore cars (train). Cost a fortune to clean up.
Link to learn more?
Nasa Says Metals Fraud Caused $700M Satellite Failure
51–60 of 231 posts
Re: Nasa Says Metals Fraud Caused $700M Satellite Failure
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's not typical for "kid[s]" to be put in prison for carrying "a few grams of weed." It might happen sometimes (in a country of 330 million people, everything that can happen will happen sometimes) but it's not typical. First, this shouldn't be a "sometimes" thing, it should be a "never" thing. You get convicted for drugs, regardless of how much, and your life is forever changed. Second, for all the made, think ab…
> First, this shouldn't be a "sometimes" thing, it should be a "never" thing. You get convicted for drugs, regardless of how much, and your life is forever changed. Communities have the right to declare certain things unacceptable and police their citizens accordingly. The regulation of vice and harmful substances is one of the core functions of state and local governments. In a country of 330 million people, that me…
No one is attacking a community's right to self-determination. It's the soundness of what the community has determined that is debated.
Re: Nasa Says Metals Fraud Caused $700M Satellite Failure
#53When interviewing for a job at a company making pressure sensors primarily for the oil industry, I got a look at their testing rooms. The sensors were usually placed deep in some well or at the bottom of the ocean, so had to function for ages without maintenance. Switching out a faulty sensor is either very expensive or impossible.
The final testing room had a window with a couch and table in the adjacent room. The interviewer said most customers would have a representative fly over to overlook the final tests in person before accepting the sensors.
Re: Nasa Says Metals Fraud Caused $700M Satellite Failure
#54They really should be held accountable for the amount of loss that their fraud caused, not just what they gained from the fraud.
Re: Nasa Says Metals Fraud Caused $700M Satellite Failure
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
>First, this shouldn't be a "sometimes" thing, it should be a "never" thing. You get convicted for drugs, regardless of how much, and your life is forever changed. A lot of things should "never" happen but do. Life isn't fair. Some people have really bad luck.
What an asinine response. Bad luck should happen in spite of the law, not because of it.
The law specifically seeks to prevent these kinds of outcomes by giving the parties involved leeway in how they do their jobs. You need an asshole cop, a prosecutor looking to pad their performance stats, a judge that doesn't care and a lawyer not doing their job in order for someone to go to jail on a possession charge and in the rare event that does happen when the miscarriage is pointed out it can usually be corrected by downgrading the offense after the fact. At least four people need to do their jobs not only wrong but do them wrong in a specific way in order for someone to go to jail over drug possession.
Re: Nasa Says Metals Fraud Caused $700M Satellite Failure
#56The linked DOJ report has far more detail [0]. On the penalties themselves: According to court documents, SPI has agreed to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud, and SEI has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in connection with a criminal information filed today charging the company with mail fraud. As part of the plea agreement, SPI has agreed to pay $34.1 million in combined restitution to NASA,…
The deferred prosecution agreement essentially means that as long as the SEI adheres to the financial terms of the plea agreement the government will eventually drop the charges [0]. That's an amazing deal in its generosity and I'm sure that the financial penalties levied are outweighed by the financial gain realized over the years of their fraudulent activity. The rationale for not pursuing the company for the full…
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Re: Nasa Says Metals Fraud Caused $700M Satellite Failure
#57They really should be held accountable for the amount of loss that their fraud caused, not just what they gained from the fraud.
What they did was despicable but that's not really fair either. If defective aluminum they sold was direct cause of 2 billion bridge collapse would they be liable for that amount?
Re: Nasa Says Metals Fraud Caused $700M Satellite Failure
#58The linked DOJ report has far more detail [0]. On the penalties themselves: According to court documents, SPI has agreed to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud, and SEI has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in connection with a criminal information filed today charging the company with mail fraud. As part of the plea agreement, SPI has agreed to pay $34.1 million in combined restitution to NASA,…
The deferred prosecution agreement essentially means that as long as the SEI adheres to the financial terms of the plea agreement the government will eventually drop the charges [0]. That's an amazing deal in its generosity and I'm sure that the financial penalties levied are outweighed by the financial gain realized over the years of their fraudulent activity. The rationale for not pursuing the company for the full…
Deferred prosecution is fairly new in Canada but that's what we're going through now with a company called SNC Lavalin. It's a Canadian-based world-wide engineering company famous for bribes, hookers to win contracts, possible mafia involvement. Yet the executives are escaping prosecution because the company employs so many people.
Re: Nasa Says Metals Fraud Caused $700M Satellite Failure
#59Which satellites? I presume OCO and some other one?
And how do journalists so frequently fail to include core facts in their articles?
Re: Nasa Says Metals Fraud Caused $700M Satellite Failure
#60the best thing is how the "company" (or corporation) is to blame. so none of the actual individual humans who did this is at fault here. at worst they would be fired and go to work somewhere else. which is compeletely fine. and with a fine like that, this is just a "cost of doing business" for the corporation. maybe one day terribly criminal corporations should be forcefully disbanded as punishment.
The rot is not excised from the company -- the corrupt processes, institutions, habits and culture which led to the fraud remain in place. The corporation does not go to jail and have its life ruined.
The corporation encapsulates and protects the worst behaviors of the individuals behind its shield, giving them the opportunity to continue profiting from it unless there is enough direct evidence to convict them as individuals.