In the case before me, as the defendants' counsel noted, these are live companies, employing hundreds of employees, and the very fact of the conviction may also have an impact on them. When discussing the question of the application of the principle of proportionality, which was established as the guiding principle for determining the penalty range, this matter must also be taken into account (for a discussion of the question of whether the specific damage caused to white-collar offenders should be taken into account in determining the punitive compound, see: Yoni Livni, White-Collar, p. 55, pp. 154-154-3, and the references therein).
5.3.2.b. Imposing a Fine on a Corporation – Applying the Principle of Conformity: Possible Implications
The Penal Law does not distinguish between a corporation and a human being. Section 40B of the Penal Law states that in determining the complex, the court must also examine the type of punishment. In the current state of affairs, this statement is true, as stated, only for a human being, for whom there are different types of punishments (and in their heart the choice between imprisonment and a fine), whereas in the case of a corporation, the only punishment that can be imposed on it is a fine.
It should be emphasized that when human beings are convicted of committing an offense alongside a corporation, the courts often view it as a single event for which the perpetrator of the offense is imprisoned, and a fine is imposed on the corporation, in such a way that the penalties as a whole meet the principle of proportionality. In the matter before me, the organs, for whose actions the defendants were convicted, at least the main ones, denied what was attributed to them in the indictment, and the proceedings in their case are still ongoing. The defendants chose to confess, and to put the matter behind them, as their counsel emphasized, regardless of whether the organs would be convicted and for what offenses. Therefore, the principle of proportionality must be examined only by means of the fine that will be imposed on the defendants.