united-states criminal-law
Could a criminal court shut down a company as punishment?
<p>Recent events have reminded us that companies and organizations can indeed be charged and convicted in criminal courts.</p>
<p>Since it isn’t really possible to put a company in prison, the penalty is often a monetary fine. But many companies are so wealthy that they treat these fines as part of the cost of doing business.</p>
<p>Is there a “corporate death penalty”? Could a criminal court order a convicted corporation to shut down, as a punishment, even if the company’s core business model is legal and it could have otherwise continued operations? What would happen to the company’s assets? Are there other punishments that are normally levied against companies?</p>

<p>It would be more common for a corporation to be judicially dissolved in a separate civil proceeding that may use facts established in a criminal proceeding as evidence, than for judicial dissolution of a corporation to actually be a punishment imposed as a penalty for a criminal conviction.</p>
<p>For example, in Colorado, the relevant statute is <a href="https://casetext.com/statute/colorado-revised-statutes/title-7-corporations-and-associations/corporations-continued/colorado-business-corporations/article-114-dissolution/part-3-judicial-dissolution/section-7-114-301-grounds-for-judicial-dissolution" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Colorado Revised Statutes § 7-114-301</a>. The sections of that statute pertaining to an involuntary dissolution of the corporation state that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(1) A corporation may be dissolved in a proceeding by the attorney
general if it is established that:</p>
<p>(a) The corporation obtained its articles of incorporation through
fraud; or</p>
<p>(b) The corporation has continued to exceed or abuse the authority
conferred upon it by law.</p>
<p>(2) A corporation may be dissolved in a proceeding by a shareholder if
it is established that:</p>
<p>(a) The directors are deadlocked in the management of the corporate
affairs, the shareholders are unable to break the deadlock, and
irreparable injury to the corporation is threatened or being suffered,
or the business and affairs of the corporation can no longer be
conducted to the advantage of the shareholders generally, because of
the deadlock;</p>
<p>(b) The directors or those in control of the corporation have acted,
are acting, or will act in a manner that is illegal, oppressive, or
fraudulent;</p>
<p>(c) The shareholders are deadlocked in voting power and have failed,
for a period that includes at least two consecutive annual meeting
dates, to elect successors to directors whose terms have expired or
would have expired upon the election of their successors;</p>
<p>(d) The corporate assets are being misapplied or wasted; or</p>
<p>(e) The corporation has abandoned its business and has failed within a
reasonable time to liquidate and distribute its assets and dissolve.</p>
<p>(3) A corporation may be dissolved in a proceeding by a creditor if it
is established that:</p>
<p>(a) The creditor's claim has been reduced to judgment, the execution
on the judgment has been returned unsatisfied, and the corporation is
insolvent; or</p>
<p>(b) The corporation is insolvent and the corporation has admitted in
writing that the creditor's claim is due and owing.</p>
</blockquote>
