[curryst]

I don't think this is strictly true. There are 2 underlying factors:

1. Public companies have tons of disclosure requirements, which makes it far more likely that someone notices their misconduct. That's a really heavy bias in the data.

2. Private companies are typically smaller, so the range of ways to abuse customers is smaller. Nestle can buy out the water rights for entire regions; the median private company probably couldn't buy enough water to mess up a city.