The link will take you to a spreadsheet compiling corporate fines and settlements from the present back to the 80s. However nearly all of these were incurred in the past 20 years. The amounts are staggering. Very few resulted in jail sentences, and most of the companies are highly profitable. Banks, energy companies, and pharmaceuticals are prominent on the list of over 2,300 fines and settlements. Companies are listed alphabetically.
They just view it as a cost of doing business. They break the laws and play the odds of getting caught. They just roll it into the costs of the products and services they sell. Unless somebody goes to jail, they don't give a damn.
Of course, the opposing argument would be that it's much cheaper to settle than to incur the cost of proving you're right. Fighting the federal government is very expensive. They have an unlimited budget and won't get penalized if they lose.
The federal government gets $8 for every $1 invested in healthcare fraud investigations. If it were a business, I would happily invest in it.
It could also be the case of the feds knowing a good piggy bank when they see it, enacting massive legislation and then cracking down on companies they know won't fight the ruling in court. It's likely a little of all of it.
