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ShadowDragon8685
A corporation is, first and foremost, beholden to it's shareholders. They're literally the guys looking at the bottom line.


So, what happens when a company Shareholder is the one who breaks the law, and the company they hold shares in is Lone Star (or whatever company is contracted to provide security?)

How are they going to arrest and turn over evidence that will put one of their Shareholders - very specifically the guys to whom they are beholden to - in jail, to the courts? They can't! If they do that, they'll lose their jobs, especially when other Shareholders realize that company loyalty means nothing, and they pull all their money out.


So, does holding shares in XYZ Securty Corp basically immunize you from the Law provided by XYZ Sec Corp? Does it have to be a specific amount or percent of shares before they're willing to screw the client in favor of the shareholder? Or can every Joe, Dick and Jane Runner immunize themselves by buying a share of Lone Star and Knight-Errant?
Moon-Hawk
It would be a balance of how much stock you own vs. the severity of the crime and how publicly the crime was committed. One share in Lone Star does not give a runner carte blanche to go wild downtown with an assault cannon. A 10% share is almost certainly enough to make a few quiet charges about some missing poor children go away.
And as always, extraterritoriality is a factor.

For purposes of PCs, though, unless they've spent enough money to retire they don't own enough of any significant security company to get away with any of the sorts of things they'd be caught doing.
nezumi
It would depend on the way the contract is written and whether there's a serious risk of his assets being seized.

If Lone Star is certain they can cinch the case and his assets would be seized to pay for the crime, they can prosecute.

If the contract for buying the stock is such that if you are found guilty of a crime, or if you are voted off by a board or somesuch you must forfeit or sell your stocks, then if the character is unpopular with other stockholders you can do so.

If the fellow is likely going to make a media spectacle about it and cost Lone Star money, it's quite likely that someone involved would put out a quiet hit on the guy.

In all other cases, it's assumed that Lone Star is there to protect citizens, and this poor multi-murderer happens to have been misconstrued as a criminal. They'd go through with an 'investigation' and let him go.
Ryu
Only major shareholders will get benefits - those whose voting rights matter to the management of lonestar enough to make the management care. If your money doesn´t give you direct influence on the board any day, it won´t on the day of your possible arrest.
tisoz
It would be like belonging to the fraternal order of police and displaying their decal.
Kyoto Kid
...well in RL it is the SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission) and Justice Department. In SR, Since most AAA Megas are extraterritorial, I would imagine the Corporate Court (or some oversight branch of the court) at Zurich Orbital would handle such cases.

if it involved corporations that do not have extraterritorial rights, Then what ever the national government's enforcement body is would now doubt handle such cases.

You don't necessarily have to be a big fish to have them come after you. Governments find it easier to prosecute the small guy who trips up because he usually does not have the financial and legal resources to put up a fight. Were it to involve a mega, most likely they would just send a goon squad to make him disappear.
ShadowDragon8685
I agree with Ryu, more-or-less. If you only own, say, one voting share, they'll just refund your share. If you own enough to show up as a tenth of a percent, say, 0.1% or so, you're pretty much immune to small-time prosecution. Breaking traffic laws, killing gangers and other undesireables in D and maybe C zones? They won't care. Anything more important, say, going on an armed robbery-murder spree in a C or a B zone, and it's your ass.

If you own a full percent, you can get away with most crimes, as long as you don't do something stupid like going on TV and saying "I'm a Lone Star Shareholder, and I'm immune to arrest and prosecution where Lone Star holds sway!" Then shooting the on-air reporter, just to prove it.

Because that's endangering the company as a whole, and they'll have to arrest and hand you over to the district attourney just to prove that you're not above the law, when in fact short of incredible stupidity, you are. Other than that, they make a show of arresting you, and very quietly release you in a day or so.

Then you get people who own more than 10% or so. At this point, they pretty much are the corporation. You can personally shoot someone in a AAA zone, and as long as the security drones recognize you, you get away scot-free. If they're forced to arrest you to mak a public show, you're quietly let go in an hour, with all your weapons and a sincere appology. At this point, only a vote of the Board can get you in trouble - that's the only way they'll work up the stones to turn you and the evidence over to the prosecutor's office. Of course, that's highly likely if you go on TV and shoot a reporter live, but still... It's better than immunity to prosecution, it's immunity to arrest.

At this level, if you're making a nuiscance of yourself, you're more likely to be taken out by a hired hit - possibly hired by Lone Star's officers or corporate officers - than by the cops.
ShadowDragon8685
Damn double-post. Can a mod please remove this post?
Moto42 Again
"You can't ticket me! I own 4 shares of your @$$!"

Heh, this gives me an idea. A co-op of runners trying to purchase enough of Lonestar to give them (as a group) this kind of power.

Of course, immunity to the full power of the law doesn't take ownership, just money.
Money to bribe the guy guarding the revolving door to the evidence locker.
Money to purchase gifts for your good friends on the board of the Star.
Money for a team of lawyers that outnumbers the prosecution 10 to one.
Money to buy fame and create a media circus. (It seems we can't find an jury-pool that hasn't been influenced already.)
Money to be in extra-terratorial zones for months on end on bussiness trips. ("I see no reason to interupt my busy schedual, just because someone plans to launch a career on a trumped up charge. My lawyers are more than competent to handle this, no further comment.")
Money for 'deniable assets' who make witnesses vanish.

This could make for a LOT of interesting runs...
ShadowDragon8685
Yeah, it could...

But, if, as a group, they owned that kind of power, they're getting something else.

Dividends! No longer will they have to Run, and their plan has destroyed their lifestyles. No more sneaking through the Shadows and sticking it to the man, now you have to show up at Board meetings and vote.

Heheh, that would be funny. A cabal of Shadowrunners showing up at a Lone Star board meeting to put forth their new plan to clean up the streets of Seattle using a combination of shock therapy, "out of sight" holdings (IE: Extraterritorial holdings where the eyes of the public do not see) and ruthlessly exterminating the leaders of threats to public safety using first-strike options and HTR teams.

Heheh, that'd be funny. Use your runner influence to convince the head of the Vory, the Mafia and the Yaks that they each called each other for a meeting in a Z-Zone, and hit it with the full force you can muster.
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