Conference Essays

Richard Messick recaps the Global Capitalism, Trust & Accountability Conference, where experts discussed how global corruption works and ways to confront it.

Jennifer Taub reveals how weak enforcement, regulatory capture, and “accountability theater” perpetuate corporate misconduct and erode public trust.

Elizabeth Pollman shows how legal safeguards designed to deter corporate misconduct frequently fail to hold directors and officers personally accountable.

Gerhard Schick explains how Germany’s CumEx and CumCum scandals exposed systemic failures in regulators, politics, banks, and media, letting tax fraud persist for decades.

Rohit Chopra writes that corporate pardons shield elites, urging private lawsuits and whistleblowers to restore accountability and fair markets.

Alexander Cooley reveals how kleptocracy depends on Western financial and legal structures, while U.S.–EU attempts to curb complicity have stalled or even reversed.

Fabio De Pasquale reflects on why global anti-corruption enforcement fails - weak cooperation, legal hurdles, and corporate power leave prosecutors exposed and firms unaccountable.

Ellen Podgor discusses how corporations avoid criminal prosecution by exploiting weak enforcement and shifting accountability away from the firm and onto employees

Victoria Baranetsky explains how the privatization of government functions and the rising value of data are eroding public access, accountability, and democratic control.

Gary Kalman warns that dismantling U.S. anti-corruption laws not only enables financial crime and global kleptocracy but threatens national security and public safety.

Judge Jed Rakoff argues that cryptocurrency’s opacity and lack of oversight fuel fraud, money laundering, and billions in investor losses with no end in sight.

Mark Weidemaier examines how targeted transparency in sovereign debt can deter corruption and promote accountability without stripping nations of vital protections.