General Electric
Profile
General Electric is a major military and nuclear contractor. Founded in 1892, it has been charged with radioactive and toxic waste dumping hundreds of times. One major source is the 91 nuclear power plants in 11 countries that use General Electric nuclear reactors such as those used in Fukushima, Japan. Company plants also discharged millions of pounds of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that it used in the manufacture of electrical transformers into the Housatonic River in Massachusetts and Hudson River in New York, despite the fact that the company was aware of the health problems caused. In 1999, the company paid $250 million for the pollution of the Housatonic and it has spent $1.7 billion cleaning up the Hudson.
Aircraft engines, Electrical distribution, Electric motors, Energy Finance, Health care, Lighting, Software, Wind turbines
Violations
| Top 5 Offense Groups (Groups Defined) | Penalty Total | Number of Records |
|---|---|---|
| financial offenses | $1,752,793,378 | 6 |
| competition-related offenses | $106,547,917 | 18 |
| employment-related offenses | $73,300,591 | 22 |
| government-contracting-related offenses | $53,330,180 | 5 |
| consumer-protection-related offenses | $42,981,000 | 7 |
(May 28, 2021)
Stories
A toxic PCB cleanup that’s arbitrary and capricious
What would you say if I told you that the latest cleanup decisions for the Housatonic River were arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and, last but not least, contrary to law?
EPA: Trust us, we’re the experts. Dump opponents: GE bought this PCB deal
LEE — The deal to allow the General Electric Co.
General Electric faces fines over French jobs pledge
image copyrightAFP
General Electric shares tank following accusation of 'bigger fraud than Enron'
The whistleblower who exposed Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme has accused General Electric of wide-scale fraud, sending the US conglomerate’s share price into a tailspin.
Activism
Tale of 2 rivers: Advocates frustrated by lack of cleanup in lower Hudson
Marie J. French | Politico | June 4, 2020
Nearly five years after the removal of contaminated sediments in the Hudson River, environmental advocates remain concerned that levels of toxic chemicals detected in fish are not dropping quickly enough.
GE workers protest at company’s headquarters, aviation factory after coronavirus layoffs
Noah Higgins-Dunn | CNBC | March 30, 2020
The union representing General Electric employees is demanding the company use its full manufacturing resources to increase its ventilator output to help fill shortages caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Dozens protest GE event downtown
Tim Logan and Jon Chesto | Boston Globe | April 4, 2016
Despite heavy snow, several dozen protesters marched Monday afternoon outside the downtown tower where GE executives were set to meet with Boston’s business and civic leaders.
- Union of Concerned Scientists
- Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families
- Center for Health, Environment & Justice
- American Friends Service Committe: Investigate
- Publish What You Pay
- Pacific Environment
- International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions
- Greenpeace
- Friends of the Earth International
- Friends of the Earth Europe
- Environmental Rights Action, Friends of the Earth Nigeria
- EarthWorks
- EarthRights International
- Corporate Watch
& Lawsuits
General Electric Agrees to Pay $200 Million Penalty for Disclosure Violations
U.S. Securities Exchange Commission | December 9, 2020
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that General Electric Co. (GE) has agreed to pay a $200 million penalty to settle charges for disclosure failures in its power and insurance businesses. In 2017 and 2018, GE’s stock price fell almost 75% as challenges in its power and insurance businesses were disclosed to the public.
Sailors Ask Ninth Circuit to Revive Fukushima Class Action
Bianca Bruno | Courthouse News | March 10, 2020
A three-judge panel in the Ninth Circuit considered Tuesday whether a U.S. federal court has jurisdiction over negligence and wrongful-death claims brought by hundreds of U.S. sailors exposed to radiation while rendering humanitarian aid in Fukushima, Japan, following a 2011 tsunami and nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
New York sues EPA over GE's Hudson River PCB cleanup
Jonathan Stempel | Reuters | August 21, 2019
New York sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, accusing the agency of prematurely allowing General Electric Co to stop clearing the Hudson River of PCB contamination before the cleanup was finished.
The bombshell report accusing GE of 'Enronesque' fraud is just the latest in the company's long history of accounting controversies
Ben Winck | Business Insider | August 16, 2019
The recent report alleging accounting fraud by General Electric marks the latest in a long history of accounting controversies within the industrial behemoth. The company dropped as much as 14% Thursday after accounting expert and Madoff whistleblower Harry Markopolos published a report alleging fraud.
GE to pay $1.5 billion U.S. fine over crisis-era subprime mortgages
Jonathan Stempel | Reuters | April 12, 2019
General Electric Co will pay a $1.5 billion civil fine to resolve a long-running U.S. probe into defective subprime mortgages from its former WMC Mortgage unit prior to the 2008 global financial crisis.
GE's legal troubles are mounting
Matt Egan | CNN | February 26, 2018
The company's well-established financial troubles could be made worse by legal headaches that may cost the conglomerate billions of dollars, new filings show.
GE & Two Subcontractors Pay $11.5 Million to Resolve Allegations of Selling Defective Aircraft Parts to Defense Department
United States Department of Justice | July 21, 2006
General Electric Co. (GE) and two of its subcontractors have paid the United States $11.5 million to settle a lawsuit that alleges that GE sold defective blades for engines in U.S. military airplanes and helicopters, the Justice Department announced today.
Defense Workers, Deemed “Essential,” Protest Conditions as Overseas Weapons Sales Continue
Akela Lacy | The Intercept | May 18, 2020
With most of the United States on lockdown in late April, the State Department approved billions of dollars in possible weapons sales. Workers at the manufacturing plants that would supply those sales, deemed “essential workers” toward the end of March thanks to the defense industry’s ...
Facing Layoffs, General Electric Workers Demand Company Put Them to Work Producing Ventilators Instead
Julia Conley | Common Dreams | March 30, 2020
As strikes by delivery and grocery store employees on Monday signaled that the coronavirus pandemic is revitalizing the labor movement, workers at General Electric drew national attention to their company's desire to save money rather than keep its workforce employed and mitigate a public health crisis.
50,000 GE retirees fear cuts as struggling company negotiates next contract
Alexander Coolidge | Cincinnati Enquirer | June 21, 2019
More than 100 General Electric retirees rallied outside the Global Operations Center at The Banks in Downtown Cincinnati Friday morning, protesting potential cuts to health care benefits amid key contract negotiations.
Financials
Note: Most recent list is not always the most complete list.
Croctail Subsidiary Tool using the CorpWatch API - This API uses automated parsers to extract the subsidiary relationship information from Exhibit 21 of companies' 10-K filings with the SEC.
Click here for the latest list.
Political Influence
OpenSecrets.org Profile of General Electric
& Evasion
Why the UK tax authority is accusing General Electric of a $1bn fraud
Tabby Kinder | Financial Times | August 3, 2020
In 2012, General Electric’s director of tax policy, Will Morris, received a trophy from HM Revenue & Customs, in recognition for his role in “informing the public debate on large business and tax and condemning tax evasion and abusive tax arrangements with no commercial purpose”.
Meet the 18 profitable companies that paid no taxes over 8 years
Aimee Picchi | CBS | March 10, 2017
President Donald Trump and the GOP leadership have vowed to reduce U.S. corporate taxes, arguing that the statutory 35 percent rate is far too high.
General Electric’s Special Tax Loophole Lets Company Dodge Billions In Taxes
Americans for Tax Fairness | March 31, 2014
General Electric is a multinational giant that made $27.5 billion in profits from 2008-2012 but got a total of $3.1 billion in federal tax refunds and paid an effective tax rate of negative 11.1 percent, according to Citizens for Tax Justice.
G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether
David Kocieniewski | New York Times | March 24, 2011
General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010. The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States. Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.