This paper explores how top-tier corporate actors become recognised as violators of legitimate informal norms in the media during the course of two Swedish corporate scandals. Analysis of a large press material illustrates the contested nature of this process. A charge process promotes the image of the alleged norm violators as perpetual outsiders characterised by corrupted morals, who have by violating legitimate norms committed unacceptable acts victimising the innocent. Resistance to this process promotes the image of the norm as socially harmful, the agents of the charge process as non-credible, and provides counter images to the scandals suggesting different ascriptions of culpability. Attempts at re-establishing social control increase with the growing acceptance of the image that a legitimate norm has been violated, transmitting images confirming the norm and the enforcement system, and turning the events into moralising tales or ostracising norm violators who fail to show remorse.