Uber pushed the limits of the law. Now comes the reckoning

The ride-sharing giant has enjoyed an unconventional and nonstop rise to the top. Now it's being probed by the Department of Justice for several illegal activities. Professor Emeritus Marianne Jennings offers her insight on how the company sunk to this point. 

Uber, the ride-hailing app, has enjoyed a wild ride of success and popularity that has vaulted it to the top of the sharing economy since 2009. Now a series of criminal investigations from the Justice Department has forced the company to step on the brakes and look internally for answers. Professor Emeritus of Accountancy Marianne Jennings explains how a clearly defined legal line becomes more blurry with each transgression, speaking to Bloomberg Technology on Oct. 11, 2017:

"It's like chalk. There's a chalk line: It's white; it's bright; you can see it. But once you cross over it a few times, it gets dusted up and spread around. So it's not clear anymore, and it just keeps moving. By the time you realize what's happening, if you say anything, you're complicit. So the questions start coming to you: 'How did you let this go?'" said Marianne Jennings, professor of legal and ethical studies in business at Arizona State University.