Their market cap is irrelevant here. What's more relevant is how much they made from the illegal export. For instance, it makes zero sense to fine Chipotle (market cap: $57B) a few billion, or even a few million dollars for health code violations in one of its restaurants, just because its market cap is in the tens of billions.
Fines should absolutely be proportional to the income of the entity being fined.
Not only should they be proportional but they should have an exponentially increasing rate for reoffense of the same or similar crime with a cooling off period for the escalation of a year or two.
Fines should never be a 'cost of doing business's for anyone. They should sting and dissuade offenders from reoffending.
Going back to the example in my previous comment, does that mean you think Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. should be fined millions for health code violations in one of its restaurants, even if it's as a result of mangers/staff in one of the restaurants going rogue?
The fine for a first time offence at a massive chain restaurant should be proportional to whatever a mom and pop restaurant would pay.
The first one should be a slap in the face wake up call for the entity receiving it and the sequential should quickly grow to create an uneconomical situation for the offender such that they are forced to change their practices or go bankrupt.
This goes for all fines given out to private individuals, businesses, big and small, rich and poor.
This. Fines are not "the cost of doing business". It's a tool that when leveraged properly can be used to get out of compliant entities, in compliance.
In my opinion, if it's literally one restaurant, acting alone, not in compliance with corporate policy than the fine should be limited to that one restaurant's income.
