17 Most Corrupt Industries

Want to retain your honor? Don't get into these professions
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted May 2, 2010 5:17 AM CDT

Goldman Sachs got you convinced Wall Street is the most corrupt place to work? Not quite: The Daily Beast worked with an anti-corruption research organization to determine the 17 most corrupt industries in America. The top five, along with representative examples:

  1. Utilities: FirstEnergy allegedly covered up a reactor head that was ready to blow, then spent more than $33 million to avoid criminal charges.
  2. Wall Street/Securities: Two words: Bernie Madoff.

  1. Telecommunications: WorldCom was once at the top of the telecom game, but when things started going downhill, it claimed $11 billion it didn’t have, and later filed for bankruptcy.
  2. Construction: Three former employees of a Texas-based construction company were indicted for fraudulently charging $560,000 in goods and services on a work-related credit card.
  3. Media: In 2001, Salon exposed major radio companies that were playing songs because a record label paid them to—and not disclosing it on the air. Ultimately, four major chains agreed to play 4000 hours of independent label music to make up for it.
For the complete list, click here. (More corruption stories.)

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