“Major companies racked up more than $20 billion in enforcement costs for environmental, health and safety and other violations between Election Day and Donald Trump’s inauguration.
This, according to Violation Tracker, a database produced by the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First, that first launched in 2015.
It follows an earlier EPA report that says environmental compliance alone cost companies $13.7 billion in 2016.
The recent data posted at Violation Tracker includes 16 cases with penalties of $100 million or more, including four in excess of $1 billion: Deutsche Bank ($7.2 billion), Credit Suisse ($5.3 billion), Volkswagen ($4.3 billion) and Takata ($1 billion).
Banks and other financial services companies account for the largest portion by far of the recent cases, racking up nearly $15 billion in fines and settlements. Automotive companies like Volkswagen and Takata are second with about $5.5 billion, while pharmaceutical and healthcare firms account for about $1.2 billion.
In addition to the recent cases, Violation Tracker now includes data from nine additional federal agencies, bringing the total to 39.”