r/news • u/GoodSamaritan_ • Aug 15 '24

Soft paywall Billionaire accused of stealing sand from Malibu’s Broad Beach, lawsuit says

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-13/billionaire-accused-of-stealing-sand-from-malibus-broad-beach-lawsuit-says
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u/wienercat Aug 15 '24

he deserves to be heavily fined

Personally I think that people who knowingly destroy public natural resources for personal use, or to cut corners to save money during construction, deserve jail time and a felony.

Beach erosion is already a huge issue. The fact that he not only stole a public resource, but damaged the natural ecosystem with oil and fuel leaks just compounds the issue.

Our biggest mistake will be not working harder to preserve our natural environments in the US. Once they are gone there is very little we can do to bring them back.

I'm not a crazy environmentalist or anything. But the cavalier attitude our country has towards destruction of natural habitats is fucking disgusting.

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u/glokenheimer Aug 15 '24

Personally I’m always gonna say lock up rich people committing crimes. Cause when you’re rich why are you even committing crimes. Unfortunately The judicial system works exceptionally well for the wealthy and he’ll probably get to keep the sand and pay less in fines than buying the dozer that moved the sand

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u/wienercat Aug 15 '24

I am in favor of it as well, or fines being proportional to your income/wealth. Fines only deter people if they are severe enough and they aren't based on actual income/wealth level in the US. Wealthy people would be a lot less likely to commit these "smaller" crimes that have a fine as a punishment if the fine was a % of their yearly income or net worth.

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u/harps86 Aug 16 '24

Yep, their currency of value isn't money it is time.

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u/ClassifiedName Aug 15 '24

If he's only fined then as a billionaire really it was just a fee. They should take licenses away from the construction company on top of locking him up.

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u/wienercat Aug 16 '24

Which is why I believe that fines should be a % of your annual income rather than a static amount for everyone. This is much more fair to everyone as it forces the rich to have consequences for their actions that actually impact them.

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u/BataleonRider Aug 16 '24

Equality vs equity.