Fines for U.S. Industry, Finance & Healthcare Lead in Ranking
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The top two industries with the highest fines between 2020 and 2024 are explained by two narratives: opioids and cryptocurrency.
A large portion of financial services penalties can be explained by cryptocurrency fines (in FTX and Binance).
Drug manufacturers, wholesalers, and retail pharmacies are all involved in opioid cases, which explains why the healthcare industry ranks first in terms of fines and second in terms of money paid.
Fines are just the cost of doing business for a number of sectors
This graphic illustrates the scope and frequency of fines across 11 major industries, totaling close to 31,000 federal and state penalties between 2020 and 2024.
Protecht Group provided the data for this graphic by accessing the Good Jobs First infraction database.
The U.S. industry with the highest fines is financial services
Financial firms are at the top of the list with $65.7 billion in penalties between 2020 and 2024 as a result of the recent crypto implosions.
The industry’s total has increased by over $26 billion due to settlements against Binance and the FTX bankruptcy estate alone.
Even conventional banks are still making amends for previous transgressions.
Bank of America, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo have all written multibillion-dollar penalties for wrongdoing ranging from sanctions violations to commodities trading fraud.
The U.S. industry with the highest fines is healthcare
A startling 7,815 distinct fines one-fourth of all cases monitored are attributed to healthcare and life science companies.
The majority of the over $59 billion paid is due to opioid litigation, but enforcement goes far beyond the big pharmaceutical companies.
Device manufacturers, retail pharmacies, and drug distributors have all been dragged into national settlements.
Industrials and Consumer Services Complete the Top 5
In terms of revenue and infractions, consumer-facing sectors including telecoms, airlines, and hospitality come in third.
Deceptive marketing, data breaches, and service failures are common causes of class-action lawsuits and fines from the Federal Trade Commission.
Environmental spills and workplace safety violations are the main causes of the $29.7 billion in total fines in Industrials & Engineering.
Due to the enormous stakes involved in accidents in heavy industry, this sector notably has the largest average penalties per case outside of banking ($22.5 million).
When Are Industry Fines Completely OK?
Even the biggest fines can be absurd in this era of enormous multinational firms that generate billions of dollars in profits annually.
Consider the historic $2 billion fine imposed by the EU on Apple for engaging in anti-competitive behavior that resulted in higher subscription costs for its subscribers.
According to one analysis, Apple recouped that sum in around two days.