The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap Highlight

In 2008, when the state handed out twenty-five NPA/DPA deals, a grand total of $289 million in fines was collected. Over the course of the next three years, the number of nonprosecution agreements held mostly steady, but the amount of fines collected increased more than tenfold. In 2009 the state collected $5.312 billion in settlements. In 2010 it was $4.682 billion. In 2011 it was $3.013 billion. By then, two things had happened. One is that America had exploded in the biggest white-collar crime wave in its history. The other is that Eric Holder had rejoined the Justice Department, this time as Barack Obama’s attorney general.