STATEMENT BY DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL LARRY D. THOMPSON

WASHINGTON, D.C.- "We are pleased with the sentence handed down today in the Arthur Andersen case. When a business organization breeds a culture of deceit and contempt for the law, the organization itself must be held accountable. Today's sentencing, the maximum permissible by statute, shows that companies that break the law, as well as individuals who break the law, will be soundly punished."

###

02-597