Gregg Berry
Professor Rossi
Criminal Investigation
November 18, 2017
White Collar Crimes What is white collar crime? White collar crime has many types of different crimes. Some types of white collar crimes which are the most common are fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion, and money laundering. The main key factor that makes a crime a white collar crime is based on the fact that the individual does this crime in order to have a financial gain. One type of white collar crime people talks, about the most is a Ponzi scheme. The Ponzi scheme was created by Charles Ponzi. With a Ponzi scheme, the person makes a promise that the investor will have a high rate of return that can’t be found in the stock market. This person provides fake reports claiming the investor is making money when in actuality they are making nothing. One investor’s money is used for another investor’s money to show profit is being made. All the money is actually going to the person that is in charge of the Ponzi scheme. The scheme will grow through word of mouth and more and more people will want to get in, so they too can make a lot of money. The investor can back out at any time they please. One of the most notorious persons that people remember for committing one of the largest Ponzi schemes was Bernard Madoff. It was claimed that he stole over 65 billion dollars, but in actuality, he stole 20 billion dollars. His firm was responsible for making false reports claiming that they earned returns of 65 billion dollars. There is little evidence on when Bernard started his Ponzi scheme. Bernard claims that he started it in 1992 but research has showed it possible could have been started in the 60’s. Bernard Madoff was born was born on April 29, 1938 in Queens, New York. He attended Hofstra University and majored in Political Science. He later on graduated from Hofstra in 1960. He later on enrolled at Brooklyn Law School but he did not stay there for long. After leaving Brooklyn Law School Bernard and his wife Ruth started his investment firm called Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC. He used the money from his life guarding job, his other job installing sprinkler systems, and 50,000 dollars that he borrowed from his in laws to
There was a time when white collar was not actually considered because of laws being particularly targeted for violent crimes. Nevertheless, times have changed for a better outcome dealing with white-collar crime. Even recent years have shown results. As stated by the FBI (2010-2011) During FY 2011, cases pursued by the FBI resulted in 242 indictments/information and 241 convictions of corporate criminals. Numerous cases are pending plea agreements and trials. During FY 2011, the FBI secured $2.4 billion in restitution orders and $16.1 million in fines from corporate criminals. So it is a newly developed crime
White collar crime, another classification, in which describes a wide variety of crimes. Typically, involves crime committed through deceit and commonly motivated by financial gain. The most common white collar crimes are fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion, and money laundering. Not to anyone's surprise, white-collar crime receives a small amount of media coverage because we, the public consumers, are told that we do not need to read, nor to hear about it. However, this type of crime has the ability
When I say white collar crime a few ideas usually will fill the average persons head. Many will immediately think of Bernie Madoff. This scumbag ran a ponzie scheme spanning multiple decades and made over 60 billion dollars in the process. He was eventually caught and thankfully is spending the rest of his natural born life in prison. Someone might also think of Martha Stewart. Martha, to the surprise of her fans, was much more than that loveable women on the home shopping network or the cooking channel. Martha was caught committing an act called insider trading. According to (The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), insider trading is when an individual has knowledge not known to the public about what is going to occur within a company
The Ponzi scheme, named after Charles Ponzi, an Italian businessman turned con artist in the 1920’s, who defrauded his investors by using their funds to pay other investors. “Almost 100 years after Charles Ponzi showed the world how the scheme worked, people are still convinced that the administrator of the
In December 2008, one of the largest Ponzi scheme surfaced when Mark and Andrew Madoff reported the works of their father, Bernard Madoff to the federal authorities. A Ponzi scheme is an investing scam that promises high rates of return with little risk to investors. The operator generates returns for older investors by gaining new investors. Bernard was arrested on December 11, 2008 and charged with securities fraud. He pled guilty to 11 counts and was sentenced to 150 years in federal prison-the maximum possible prison sentence. A reported $17.3 billion was invested into the scam by Bernie’s clients and only about $2.48 billion have been returned to these victims as of September 2012.
“White collar crime is defined as various crimes, as embezzlement, fraud, or stealing office equipment, committed by business or professional people while working. Generally the person accused of a white collar crime is someone of high prestige. White-collar crime is a broad term that
From about 1960 to the 1990’s, Madoff’s business grew like crazy, mainly from some well-known investors and friends. Because of all this Bernie became very successful very fast. This caused him to start getting greedy. In the 1990’s Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities began conducting illegal acts of fraud, Madoff started an illegal money-management business, promising his investors consistent returns. Investors were so interested in the high returns, that no one questioned Madoff or his strategy. In 2008, investors began requesting payouts for their investments and Madoff started to become very desperate for new funds. His strategy began to unravel and the truth of his actions started to come out, shocking many people. This case blew up like crazy and once investigators started looking into Madoff’s business they discovered all Madoff was doing was running a Ponzi scheme. He would take funds from new investors, and use that to pay off the older investors. While doing this Bernie was also pocketing a large portion of the money, causing this to be one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in
Throughout history, many academics have proposed various theories to help comprehend and explain criminal behaviours. These theories investigate many different aspects of the causations of crime and those at risk of criminal behaviour. White collar crime is a term founded less than a century ago within 1939 by Edwin Sutherland. He identified white collar crime as "crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" (Hirschi, 1987, pg 953). Sutherland strived to explain all types of crimes. He proposed that crime occurred beyond the streets, within the business and politic realm. White collar crimes differ heavily from street crime, as they are nonviolent acts committed by those in a state
White collar crimes are offences in which are financially driven and executed by those in business and government professions. These crimes are found to be less disgraceful in the eyes of justice due to the fact that they are non violent acts. However, the impact this unlawful act provides society with is far from the minor misdemeanor that the law projects it to be. Hospitals, and Insurance companies are the most frequent offenders of white collar crimes. Crimes are committed by individuals who are personally affected by the negligence of these fraudulent facilities and their actions.
One of the key critical issues that should be researched in 21st century criminology is corporate and white collar crime. "White-collar crime is a very broad concept that speaks generally to illegal behaviour that takes advantage of positions of professional authority and power - or simply the opportunity structures available within business - for personal or corporate gain."(Kempa, 2010:252). White-collar crime can be any form of fraud, embezzlement, trading for personal gain, trying to increase stock prices by exaggerating profits or misleading products conducted by business professionals. Unlike the more common crimes such as drug related offences, assault and possession theft white-collar crime
White-collar and corporate crimes happen when individuals and businesses commit fraudulent acts within a legitimate corporation or occupation. White-collar crimes and corporate crimes are similar in nature because employees and their management within the corporate entity commit these crimes. However, white collar crime is committed by an individual who seeks opportunities for personal gain; whereas, corporate crimes are affiliated with the company as a whole who benefits from the criminal activity. According to Alder, Laufer, and Mueller (2013), people are becoming more dependent on dealing with agents of large structures who they do not have a direct relationship with as individuals may have had in the in the past. As corporate America
White-Collar Crime consists of occupational crime and corporate crime. Occupational crime refers to offences committed against legitimate institutions businesses or government by those with "respectable" social status. It includes the embezzlement of corporate funds, tax evasion, computer crime and expense-account fraud. It is not every day that we hear about white-collar crimes but these non-violent crimes are on the rise to the top. Federal Bureau of Investigation states that USA, for example recorded white collar crimes amounting $300 billion every year (Cornell University, 2010). White-collar crime is relatively a new idea. It has many aspects that are practical for study and further interpretation to clear some of its dark areas. White-Collar Crime was once introduced by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 during his speech in American Sociological Society. The following crimes actually performed are Bribery, Extortion, Insurance, Fraud, Embezzlement, Cybercrime etc. People who participate in these criminal activities are highly powerful and respectful among the society. The following activities include description about White-collar Crime, Investigation of White Collar Crime and The Consequences of committing a White-collar Crime.
White collar crimes are important and can result in a large loss of money or assets. White collar crimes are often referred to or viewed as victimless crimes. However, this is not the case. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations White Collar Crime website, a white collar crime scam can do everything from destroying and bankrupting a company, cost a family their entire life savings, or cost investors billions of dollars, or possibly all three. Scams are extremely prevalent
The legal definition can be considered as the most accurate definition of crime when it occurs as it describes crime an act or behaviour that causes harm to others, however it is not without faults or weaknesses. One weakness of the legal definition of crime is the difficulty to identify and fully criminalise white collar crime. White collar crime is “crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in his occupation” (Sutherland, citied in Haines 2016, p.174). While it is no longer completely under criminalised, it was difficult to identify this type of crime in the past as it did not seem to harm people in society. However, an example of white collar crime according to Potter (2001) is toxic crimes that put people in society
White collar crimes can be described as offenses that are conducted or occur with a business setting ("About the Different Types", n.d.). Some of the major white collar crimes are theft and fraud, counterfeiting, bribery and kickbacks, public corruption, mail fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, and identity theft. These types of crimes need to be approached with critical and careful care because they sometimes involve difficult financial transactions and high profile figures such as politicians or business executives.