In the UK, and other jurisdictions....
The directors can be held personally liable for a company's illegal actions.
In the USA, directors can too, if they undertake actions which "pierce the corporate veil" (among other things this includes setting up multiple shell companies to avoid being detected as the entity behind a scam, etc - but it's almost never used against crooks.)
Companies are required by law to act in a way which in a "person" would be classed as sociopathic (maximise personal reward ("the shareholders") with no regard to impact on 3rd parties)
Unfortunately that means that they attract sociopaths to the upper levels - hence the many stories of companies circling the drain whilst management are still paying themselves huge bonuses. These people believe their personal welfare trumps the company's and in the process can easily wreck the company.